Life of Brigham Young

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LIFE OF

RIGHAM YOUNG;

v

OR,

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS.

By EDWARD W. TULLIDGE.

NEW YORK.
1877.

\

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876,

by TULLIDGE & CRANDALL,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.

The rapid sale, and early exhaustion, of the first
edition of the "Life of Brigham Young; or, Utah
and Her Founders," is a tribute to my humble
efforts which I accept from the good people of
Utah with pride and gratitude.

This second edition is issued to meet a rapidly
increasing demand, which promises to make my
book one of the most popular publications of the
day. It will be observed that several corrections
have been made in the body of the work, and that
to the Supplement have been added sketches of
Hon. John W. Young, Apostle Brigham Young, Jr.,
Hon. Joseph A. Young, Joseph W. Young; the
brothers of President Young — John, Joseph, Phineas
and Lorenzo ; also sketches of the late Apostle
Willard Richards, and others.

Respectfully,

Edward W. Tullidge.

Salt Lake City y March, 1877.

CONTENTS.

Chapter I. — The Prophet and his Fulfiller. A New Dispensation. The
Empire-Founding Saints.

Chapter II. — The Mormon Exodus. Brigham Young as the Modern Moses.

Chapter III. — A Law-Giver in the Wilderness. The Mormons the First
American Emigrants to California and the Discoverers of the Gold.
The Ship " Brooklyn " sails from New York to San Francisco with Six
Hundred Mormons. Propositions of Political Demagogues to Share the
Lands of California with the Saints. President Polk a Silent Party to
the Scheme. Threat to intercept the Pioneers if they refused. A Noble
Resolve. Petition to the Governor of Iowa Territory. The Monument
we Leave.

Chapter IV. — The Mormons on the March. Their Organic Condition.
They Move as a Nation. A Prophet and Lieut. -General. Mormon
Life on the Journey. They Praise the Lord in the Song and in the
Dance. They Build temporary Cities on the way. A Sensation from
the U. S. Government.

Chapter V. — The Call for the " Mormon Battalion." Interviews with Presi-
dent Polk. The Apostles Enlisting Soldiers from their People for the
Service of the Nation. The Battalion on the March.

Chapter VI. — The Mormons Settle on Indian Lands. A Grand Council
held between the Elders and Indian Chiefs. A Covenant is made be-
tween them, and land granted by the Indians to their Mormon Brothers.
Characteristic Speeches of famous Indian Chiefs. Winter Quarters
Organized. The Government at first Confirms the Indian Permission
to the Mormons, and then seeks to eject them. Official Correspondence.
Judge Kane and his Son.

Chapter VII. — Sketch of the Life of Brigham Young up to the Martyrdom
of Joseph Smith. A View of the Early History of the Church. Found-
ing of the British Mission. Brigham Young in England. Martyrdom
of the Mormon Prophet.

Chapter VIII. — Sidney Rigdon. Brigham and the Twelve take their place
and lead the Church. The Disciples recognize the Spirit of Joseph in
his Successor. The Last Days of Nauvoo.

ii. CONTENTS

CHAPTER IX. — The Remnant at Nauvoo. The Great Battle. March of the
Mob Army into the Doomed City : Description by Governor Ford.
Thomas L. Kane's famous Picture of Nauvoo, after the Fall, and the
, Scene of Extermination.

Chapter X. — The Journey of the Pioneers to the Mountains. Their First
Sight of the Promised Land.

Chapter XI. — The First Sabbath in the Valley. The Pioneers apply the
Prophecies to themselves and their location. Zion has gone up into the
Mountains. They locate the Temple and lay off the '* City of the Great
Salt Lake." The Leaders return to Winter Quarters to Gather the Body
of the Church. Their Second Arrival in the Valley. Brigham declared
the Leader of Israel.

Chapter XII.— The Mormons in their new " Gathering Place." First Cele-
bration. t/Growth of their Commonwealth. Founding of the State of
Deseret. Congress Establishes a Territorial Organization. Famine and
Crickets. A Strange Prophecy by Heber C. Kimball, and a Stranger
Fulfillment. The 1 Rush of the Gold-finders to California. Grand
Celebrations. Memorial to Congress for a National Railroad to the
Pacific in 1852. A Slander Exploded. Grand Railroad Demonstration
in 1854.

^Chapter XIII. — Pictures of Mormon Society in the Founding of Utah.
Life among the Saints. Their Social and Religious Peculiarities and
Customs. Ecstacy of the Gold-finders when they came upon "Zion."
Views by Stansbury, Gunnison, and Noted English Travelers, of tla«
Mormons and their Institutions.

Chapter XIV. — Views of Brigham Young as Governor. Correspondence of
Colonel Kane with President Fillmore. Arrival of Colonel Steptoe and
his Regiment. President Pierce tenders the Governorship of Utah to
Steptoe : He Refuses, and Petitions the President for the Re-appointmemt
of Brigham Young. Pierce Re-appoints him.

Chapter XV. — The National Mission of the Mormons. Their Israelitish
Genius and Destiny. They Believe in their Constitutional Right to
Found a State of the Union. A View Preparatory to the " Utah War."

Chapter XVI. — The Pioneer Jubilee. Celebration of their Tenth Anni-
versary. Arrival of Messengers with the News of the Coming of an
Invading Army. The Day of Jubilee Changed to a Day of Independence.

Chapter XVII. — The Utah Expedition. Mad Policy of Buchanan. The
Priests and Journalists Exultant. The Two Governors. How Brigham
met the issue. The Saints Resolve to Lay their Cities Waste and take
Refuge in the Mountains. Arrival of Captain Van Vliet. The Mormon
Leader Sends a Righteous Defiance and Rebuke to the Government.
Governor Young's Proclamation. The Territory Placed under Martial Law.

CONTENTS. iii.

Chapter XVIII. — Buchanan coerced by Public Sentiment into sending a
Commission of Investigation. He sends Colonel Kane with a Special
Mission to the Mormons. Arrival of the Colonel in Salt Lake City.
His first interview with the Mormon Leaders. Incidents of his sojourn.
He goes to meet Governor Cumming, and is placed under arrest by
General Johnston. His Challenge to that Officer. He brings in the
. new Governor in Triumph. Cordial Meeting between the Two Gover-
nors. Return of Colonel Kane.

Chapter XIX. — Report of Governor Cumming to the Government. The
Government Records found not burned as reported by Drummond. The
Mormon Leaders justified by the Facts, and the People loyal. Graphic
and thrilling description of the Mormons in their Second Exodus. The
Governor brings his Family to Salt Lake City. His Wife is moved to
Tears at witnessing the Heroic Attitude of the People.

Chapter XX. — The arrival of Peace Commissioners. Extraordinary Council
between them and the Mormon Leaders. A singular Scene in the
Council. Arrival of a Courier with Despatches. " Stop that army ! or
we break up the Conference." "Brother Dunbar, sing Zion!" The
Peace Commissioners marvel, but at last find a Happy Issue. Retro-
spective View of the Mormon Army.

Chapter XXI.— Reflections upon the " Utah War." The Re-action. Cur-
rent Opinion as expressed by the Leading Journals of Europe and
America.

Chapter XXII. — The March of the Troops into Salt Lake City. Return of
the People to their Homes. Treachery of the Judges. Malicious Prose-
cutions. A Requisition made by the Court upon General Johnston for
Troops. The Governor Protests. The Military Power frustrated in the
Attempt to Arrest Brigham Young. Courageous Attitude of Governor
Cumming. Mormon Loyalty. Johnston's Army ordered to the Potomac
Evacuation of Camp Floyd.

Chapter XXIII.— Change in the Personnel of the Federal Offices. The
Morrisite Tragedy. More Officials. The California Volunteers and
Establishment of Camp Douglas. Arrest of President Young. Midnight
Alarms. Harmony restored by a Change of Federal Officials.

Chapter XXIV. — The Constitutional Issue raised by the Mormons the Fore-
runner of the National Controversy resulting in Civil War. Utah and the
South Radically Associated in the Chicago Platform. Joseph Smith's
Remarkable Prophecy. The Loyalty of the Mormons. Utah Neutral in
the Controversy. Brigham Young's Judgment upon the Fratricidal
War. How the Mormons regard Secession. Retrospection. Reflection.
Predication.

iv. CONTENTS.

Chapter XXV. — The Nation's Grief over the Death of Lincoln finds sympa-
thetic Response in Utah. Visit of the Colfax Party. They are called
upon by Brigham Young and the Apostles, and Serenaded by the People.
Speeches by Colfax, Bross and Richardson.

Chapter XXVI.— Second Visit of Mr. Colfax. "Will the Mormons Fight?"

" Let us alone with our Problems." He is Informed of an Approaching

Schism. The Schism Inaugurated. Excommunication of the Apostates.

Passing Events. The Railroad and the Man of Destiny. Passage of

- the Female Suffrage Bill, etc.

Chapter XXVII.— President Grant Bent on the Conquest of " Mormon The-
ocracy." He appoints Shaffer Governor for that purpose. Sheridan's
" Moral Force." Shaffer's Military " Coup de Main." General Wells
avoids a Collision. Correspondence between the Lieut-General and the
Governor. Death of Shaffer.

Chapter XXVIII.— Congressional History of Utah up to 1870. William
H. Hooper. The Settlement of Affairs after the Utah War. Return
of Bernhisel to Congress and the Passage of the Anti-Polygamic Bill ;
followed by a Gentile Delegate. Hooper Returned again, and the Pres-
tige of Home Delegates Restored. The Cullom Bill. Hooper's great
Speech.

Chapter XXIX. — Mormondom Aroused by the Passage of the Cullom Bill.
Great Indignation of the People. The Brotherhood and Sisterhood on
the Eve of a Constitutional Revolution, or Ready for Martyrdom. Presi-
dent Grant and President Brigham Young Moving their Forces from
Behind. Memorial and Remonstrance to the Senate of the United
States. Newman's Evangelical Raid.

Chapter XXX. — The M'Kean Regime. History of the Protracted Efforts
to judicially Murder the Founders of Utah. The Conspiracy Defeated.
Justice Triumphant. M'Kean Removed.

Chapter XXXI. — Congressional Matters subsequent to 1870. Polygamic
Theocracy boldly submitted at the National Capital. Delegate Cannon's
Congressional Career. General Grant Visits Utah. Meeting of the
Presidents.

Chapter XXXII. — Utah Emerges from her Isolation. Transformations in-
cident thereto. Zion Co-operative Mercantile Institution. The Mormon
Emigration. Parting View of Brigham Young.

Supplement. — Biographical Sketches.

CHAPTER I.

THE PROPHET AND HIS FULFILLER. A NEW DISPEN-
SATION. THE EMPIRE-FOUNDING SAINTS.

At distant periods, as the centuries roll, Provi-
dence raises up a rare class of men to found
empires and open new dispensations, thereby giving
fresh life to the body of society and new forms
to its institutions. Most fitly are they called men
of destiny. None of the world's great characters
stand out bolder in this type than do Joseph
Smith and Brigham Young. They show a strik-
ing resemblance to Moses and Mohammed, two
of the greatest religious empire-founders the world
has yet seen. Indeed, in his lifetime, the Mormon
prophet was styled the Mohammed of the West;
and scarcely had Brigham Young succeeded him
in the leadership of the Mormon people, ere he
was classed with the immortal law-giver of Israel.
Scarcely better does the following, from Thomas
Carlyle, on Mohammed and his mission, apply to
the Eastern prophet and his followers than to
Joseph Smith and his disciples:

"This Mohammed, then, we will in no wise
" consider as an inanity and theatricality, a poor
"conscious ambitious schemer; we cannot conceive
" him so. The rude message he delivered was a
" real one withal ; an earnest confused voice from
"the unknown deep. The man's words were not

2 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ] OR,

" false nor his workings here below : no inanity and
" simulacrum ; a fiery mass of life cast up from the
" great bosom of nature herself, to kindle the world ;
11 the world's maker had ordained it so. * * *
" This deep-hearted son of the wilderness, with his
" beaming black eyes, and open, social, deep nature,
" had other thoughts in him than ambition. A silent
" great soul ; he was one of those who cannot but
" be in earnest ; whom nature herself appointed to
" be sincere. While others walk in formulas and
" hearsays, contented enough to dwell there, this
" man could not screen himself in formulas ; he was
" alone with his own soul and the reality of things.
" The great mystery of existence, as I said, glared
"in upon him, with its terrors, with its splendors.
u* * * # Th e word of such a man is as a
" voice direct from nature's own heart. Men do
"and must listen to that as to nothing else; all
"else is as wind in comparison. * * * /The
"word this man spoke has been the life guidance
" of one hundred and eighty millions of men these
" twelve hundred years. These hundred and eighty
" millions were made by God as well as we. A
"greater number of God's creatures believe in Mo-
"hammed's word, at this hour, than in any other
"word whatever. Are we to suppose that it was
"a miserable piece of legerdemain, this which so
" many creatures of the Almighty had lived by and
"died by? I, for my part, cannot form any such
"supposition. I will believe most things sooner
" than that. One would be entirely at a loss what
" to think of this world at all, if quackery so grew
" and were sanctioned here."

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 3,

Had Carlyle designed this philosophical view
for the Mormon prophet and his people it could
not have been more happily expressed. True,.
Mormonism has not yet survived the action of
centuries ; it has not yet become a mighty em-
pire; nor yet have countless millions lived and
died by the faith ; yet possibly it is destined to
quite as markedly affect the worlds career. It
is the only absolute religion of modern times.
No other, except the Mormon apostles, have even
attempted, within a thousand years, to open an
entirely new dispensation. In this sense it is the
first religion that has sprung from the anglo-saxon
race. Very properly its prophet arose in America.
America may affect to be scandalized by the fact,
but the fact will remain, that Joseph Smith is the
first and only great national prophet who has arisen
in the new world. He is emphatically the prophet
of America. Indeed, another like him could not
come to-day. In the presence of a wide-spreading
infidelistic spiritualism, a prophet, with a divine
revelation and a new dispensation, would not even
have the potency of a fresh sensation. . He came
but just in time to come at all ; and by coming
before the advent of " modern spiritualism " he
found an opportunity for his mission. Nor should
America be pained over the event. One of her
greatest thinkers has said that Mormonism is the
only religion of force of modern times, — the only
religion of force since the rise of Mohammed.
Neither did Mohammedanism, nor Christianity,
during the first fifty years of their respective
careers, accomplish anything more wonderful than

4 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

has Mormonism accomplished in the first fifty years
of its career. It should be remembered, too, that
the mission of the latter has been in the nineteenth
century, among the superior races, in England and
America. In the coming time it may be proven
that this age could have well taken some pride
in its offspring ; for if there be sound philosophy in the
maxim that God is in the worlds success, God
must be in a successful Mormonism.

Of the Mormon people, it should be strongly
marked that they are not a sect ; not a mere
community of church-builders; but religious empire
founders. This is an extraordinary character-cast,
but Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and their
disciples have dared to assume it. Hence they
have originated and founded new religious and
social institutions as startling as they are peculiar.
This has naturally provoked antagonism, and
brought upon them great persecutions ; yet we
should no more blame the age for its antagonism to
Mormonism than the age should blame the Mor-
mons for their fidelity to their mission. -HLet us
accept this " irrepressible conflict " understandingly
and without malice. If Mormonism prevail we
shall ultimately see its peculiar problems outwrought
to solution ; if Mormonism fail, there is no God in
it ; let it go to the wall. But let the oppressor
beware. Even the United States Government has
been no more successful in its crusades against
the Mormons than were Missouri and Illinois.
President Grant, though he has stretched out his
arm all the day long against them, has been as
impotent as was President Buchanan, who made

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 5

war — actual war — upon them, and then begged of
them for peace. God was in those successes ! God
was not in those failures !

It is impossible to imagine a man more fit to
succeed Joseph Smith than Brigham Young; and
he was as much a necessity to the Mormon mission
and programme as was Joseph himself. They are
as two halves of one whole.

It was thought that when Joseph Smith was
killed the Mormon work- would die out. Not un-
likely this expectation helped much to bring about
the tragedy of his end. And so, according to ordi-
nary probabilities, it would have died out, or been
crushed out, and the Mormon church scattered to
the four winds, had not a man arisen fully the equal
of Joseph Smith; not like him in type, but his
other half, — the fulfillcr of the prophet. It is
evident that the man required to execute such a
mission and work as the Mormon prophet had laid
down, was one having the real empire-founding
genius, and that, too, of an extraordinary cast. It
was not remarkable that, on the martyrdom of the
Prophet, his chief apostle should take the leader-
ship of the church ; but that he should have been
equal to the task of holding the community together,
conducting them through their exodus to the Rocky
Mountains, consolidating the impetuous forces and
agencies that his predecessor had thrown into the
work, building up a powerful territory of the Union,
founding two hundred and fifty cities, and preserv-
ing his people through a strange and eventful his-
tory, is quite in keeping with the idea of a Western
Mohammed in the nineteenth century.

CHAPTER II.

THE MORMON EXODUS. BRIGHAM YOUNG AS THE

MODERN MOSES.

The period of his life that seems the most proper
in which to introduce Brigham Young in action to
the reader, is when he succeeded the Mormon
prophet and led his people in the famous exodus
from Nauvoo. Here we have him at once in the
character of the modern Moses. It is no fanciful
conceit of the author to thus style him to-day, after
he and his people have built up a State fabric, with
three hundred cities and settlements, networked
with railroads and the electric telegraph ; for at that
very period his name rang throughout America,
and reverberated in Europe, as the Moses of the
" latter days," and the Mormons were likened to the
children of Israel in the wilderness.

Finding before his death that the issue had come
— that he and his people could no longer remain in
the land of the " gentile," — the Prophet planned the
removal of the Mormons to the Pacific slope ; but,
closing his career in martyrdom, the execution of
the design fell upon Brigham Young.*

Towards the close of the year 1845, tne leaders,
in council, resolved to remove at once and seek a
second Zion in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains.
It was too clear that they could no longer dwell
among so-called civilized men. They knew that

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 7

they must soon seek refuge with the children of the
forest ; and as for humanity, they must seek it in
the breasts of savages, for there was scarcely a
smouldering spark of it left for them, either in Mis-
souri or Illinois, nor indeed anywhere within the
borders of the United States. That this was ex-
actly the case appears from the fact that before the
Mormons undertook their exodus, they appealed,
but appealed in vain, not only to the. President of
the United States, but to the Governors of all the
States, excepting Missouri and Illinois, addressing
to each a personal prayer, asking of them their in-
fluence to prevent the ruthless extermination of
twenty thousand native-born American citizens, or,
at least, their favor in peacefully removing them to
Oregon or California. Moreover, they had, during
the lifetime of the Prophet, sent a delegation to
Washington, — Joseph Smith himself going to ask
redress of the wrongs of his people. It was then
that President Van Buren made his famous reply :
u Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing
" for you ! "

The appeal thereafter made to President Polk,
and to the Governors, will be found in another
chapter ; suffice it here to say, that it availed the
Mormons nothing. They had now no destiny but
in the West. If they tarried longer their blood
would fertilize the lands which they had tilled, and
their wives and daughters would be ravished within
the sanctuary of the homes which their industrious
hands had built. Their people were by a thousand
ancestral links joined to the pilgrim fathers who
founded this nation, and with the heroes who won

8 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

for it independence, and it was as the breaking of
their heartstrings to rend them from their father-
land, and send them as exiles into the territory of a
foreign power. But there was no alternative be-
tween a Mormon exodus or a Mormon massacre.

Sorrowfully, but resolutely, the Saints prepared to
leave ; trusting in the providence which had thus
far taken them through their darkest days, and
multiplied upon their heads compensation for their
sorrows. But the anti-Mormons seemed eager for
the questionable honor of exterminating them. In
September of the year 1845, delegates from nine
counties met in convention, at Carthage, over the
Mormon troubles, and sent four commissioners :
General Hardin, Commander of the State Militia ;
Senator Douglass ; W. B. Warren ; and J. A. Mc
Dougal, to demand the removal of the Mormons to
the Rocky Mountains. The commissioners held a
council with the twelve apostles at Nauvoo, and the
Mormon leaders promptly agreed to remove their
people at once, a movement, as observed, which
they had been considering for several years. Now
they were brought face to face with the issue,
Brigham Young sought not to evade it ; but, with
his characteristic method, resolved to grapple with
the tremendous undertaking of the exodus of a
people. Knowing well, as everybody to-day knows,
that this extraordinary man is no fanatic, nor even a
religious enthusiast, but a cool-headed, strong-willed
leader, who undertakes nothing but what he feels
that he can execute, if faithfully supported by his
brethren, this act will be perpetuated in history as
one of the marvels in the lives of the worlds great

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 9

characters ; for on that exodus hung, not only the
future of Brigham Young, but the very destiny of
the Mormon people. Probably it was a sensible
comprehension of this fact that prompted General
Hardin to ask of the twelve apostles, at the council
in question, what guarantee they would give that
the Mormons would fulfill their part of the cove-
nant ? To this Brigham replied, with a strong touch
of common-sense severity, " You have our all as the
"guarantee; what more can we give beyond the
"guarantee of our names?" Senator Douglass
observed, " Mr. Young is right." But Gen. Hardin
knew that the people of Illinois, and especially the
anti-Mormons, would look to him more than to
Douglass, who had been styled the Mormon-made
senator ; so the commissioners asked for a writ-
ten covenant, of a nature to relieve themselves of
much of the responsibility, and addressed the fol-
lowing :

" Nauvoo, Oct i st, 1845.

" To the President and Council of the Church at

JVauvoo :

Having had a free and full conversation with you
this day, in reference to your proposed removal
from this country, together with the members of
your church, we have to request you to submit the
facts and intentions stated to us in the said conver-
sations to writing, in order that we may lay them
before the Governor and people of the State. We
hope that by so doing it will have a tendency to
allay the excitement at present existing in the public
mind.

IO LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

" We have the honor to subscribe ourselves,

" Respectfully yours,

" John J. Hardin,
" W. B. Warren,
" S. A. Douglass,
" J. A. McDougal."

The covenant itself is too precious to be lost to
history ; here it is :

" Nauvoo, III., Oct. ist, 1845.

" To Gen. J. Hardi?i, W. B. Warren, S. A. Douglass
and J. A. McDougal ;

Messrs : — In reply to your letter of this date,
requesting us ' to submit the facts and intentions
stated by us in writing, in order that you may lay
them before the Governor and people of the State/
we would refer you to our communication of the
24th ult. to the ' Quincy committee,' &c, a copy of
which is herewith enclosed.

In addition to this we would say that we had
commenced making arrangements to remove from
the country, previous to the recent disturbances ;
that we have four companies, of one hundred fami-
lies each, and six more companies now organizing,
of the same number each, preparatory to a removal.

That one thousand families, including the twelve,
the high council, the trustees and general authori-
ties of the Church, are fully determined to remove
in the Spring, independent of the contingencies of
selling our property ; and that this company will
comprise from five to six thousand souls.

That the Church, as a body, desire to remove with
us, and will, if sales can be effected, so as to raise
the necessary means.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. II

That the organization of the Church we represent
is such that there never can exist but one head or
presidency at any one time. And all good members
wish to be with the organization ; and all are deter-
mined to remove to some distant point where we
shall neither infringe nor be infringed upon, so soon
as time and means will permit.

That we have some hundreds of farms and some
two thousand houses for sale in this city and county,
and we request all good citizens to assist in the dis-
posal of our property.

That we do not expect to find purchasers for our
temple and other public buildings ; but we are will-
ing to rent them to a respectable community who
may inhabit the city.

That we wish it distinctly understood, that al-
though we may not find purchasers for our property,
we will not sacrifice it, nor give it away or suffer it
illegally to be wrested from us.

That we do not intend to sow any wheat this Fall,
and should we all sell, we shall not put in any more
crops of any description.

That as soon as practicable, we will appoint com-
mittees for this city, La Harpe, Macedonia, Bear
Creek, and all necessary places in the county, to give
information to purchasers.

That if these testimonies are not sufficient to
satisfy any people that we are in earnest, we will
soon give them a sign that cannot be mistaken — we

WILL LEAVE THEM.

In behalf of the council, respectfully yours, &c,

Brigham Young, President.
Willard Richards, Clerk.

The covenant satisfied the commissioners, and
for a time satisfied also the anti-Mormons.

But their enemies were impatient for the Mormons

12 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

to be gone. They would not keep even their own
conditions of the covenant, much less were they
disposed to lend a helping hand to lighten the bur-
den of this thrice-afflicted people in their exodus,
that their mutual bond might be fulfilled — a bond
already sealed with the blood of their prophet, and
of his brother their patriarch. So the high council
issued a circular to the Church, Jan. 20, 1846, in
which they stated the intention of their community
to locate " in some good valley in the neighborhood
" of the Rocky Mountains, where they will infringe
" on no one, and not be likely to be infringed upon."
11 Here we will make a resting place," they said,
11 until we can determine a place for a permanent
11 location. : * We also further de-

11 clare, for the satisfaction of some who have con-
11 eluded that our grievances have alienated us from
11 our country, that our patriotism has not been
" overcome by fire, by sword, by daylight nor by
11 midnight assassination which we have endured,
" neither have they alienated us from the institu-
" tions of our country."

Then came the subject of service on the side of
their country, should war break out between it and
a foreign country, as was indicated at that time by
our growing difficulties with Mexico. The anti-
Mormons took advantage of this war prospect, and,
not satisfied with their act of expulsion, they raised
the cry, " The Mormons intend to join the enemy !"
This was as cruel as the seething of the kid in its
mother's milk, but the high council answered it with
the homely anecdote of the Quakers characteristic
action against the pirates in defence of the ship on

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 3

which he was a passenger, when he cut away the
rope in the hands of the boarder, observing : " If
" thee wants that piece of rope I will help thee to
" it." " The pirate fell," said the circular, " and a
" watery grave was his resting place." Their country
had been anything but a kind protecting parent to
the Saints, but at least, in its hour of need, they
would do as much as the conscientious Quaker did
in the defence of the ship. There was, too, a grim
humor and a quiet pathos in the telling, that was
more touchingly reproachful than would have been
a storm of denunciations. In the same spirit the
high council climaxed their circular thus*

We agreed to leave the country for the sake of
peace, upon the condition that no more persecutions
be instituted against us. In good faith we have
labored to fulfill this agreement. Governor Ford
has also done his duty to further our wishes in this
respect, but there are some who are unwilling that
we should have an existence anywhere ; but our
destinies are in the hands of God, and so are also
theirs.

Early in February, 1846, the Saints began to
cross the Mississippi in flat boats, old lighters, and a
number of skiffs, forming, says the Presidents
Journal, "quite a fleet," which was at work night
and day under the direction ,of the police, com-
manded by their captain, Hosea Stout.

On the 15th of the same month, Brigham Young,
with his family, accompanied by Willard Richards
and family, and George A. Smith, also crossed the
Mississippi from Nauvoo, and proceeded to the
" Camps of Israel," as they were styled by the

14 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

Saints, which waited on the west side of the river, a
few miles on the way, for the coming of their leader.
These were to form the vanguard of the migrating
Saints, who were to follow from the various States
where they were located, or had organized them-
selves into flourishing branches and conferences ;
and soon after this period also began to pour across
the Atlantic that tide of emigration from Europe,
which has since swelled to the number of about one
hundred thousand souls.

As yet the " Camps of Israel " were unorganized,
awaiting the coming of the President, on Sugar
Creek, which he and his companions reached at
dusk. The next day he was busy organizing the
company, " acting the part of a father to every-
" body," and on the following, which was February
17th, at 9.50 a. m., the brethren of the camp had
assembled near the bridge, to receive their initiatory
instructions, and take the word of command from
their chosen leader.

In Nauvoo the Saints had heard the magic cry,
u to your tents, O, Israel ! " And in sublime faith
and trust, such as history scarcely gives an example
of, they had obeyed, ready to follow their leader,
whithersoever he might direct their pilgrim feet.
True, they possessed unbounded confidence in him,
and, if possible, still greater confidence in their
destiny as a people, but the task before him was
almost superhuman, and a friendly looker-on might
have well been pardoned had he paused ere he pro-
nounced the man Brigham equal to the task, for
that would have declared him to be fully the equal
of Moses in a strictly Mosaic work.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 5

Brigham leaped into a wagon and sent his clarion
voice ringing its first note of command. The dull-
est ear in the camp was awakened with the cry,
" Attention, the whole Camp of Israel." There was
no prosaic prelude of wrongs — no harangue on
their perilous journey, such as a demagogue might
have made ; nor was it merely the inspiring method
of a great man, who, trusting in himself, sought to
carry his people to a triumphant issue by the
magic of his own genius. It was more than that.
It was the man of destiny with the spirit of his
mission in him ; a man greater at that moment
than he himself knew or aimed to be ; a man
greater than even to-day, after all his successes, he
sees himself, at that supreme moment of his life.

Here, from the leader's private journal, is the
simple telling of the epic of that day : " On the
" 17th, at 9.50 a. m., all the brethren of the camp
" assembled near the bridge, when I arose in a
" wagon, and cried with a loud voice, ' Attention,
" the whole Camp of Israel ! ' "

This is truly Napoleonic in its commanding grip;
but this homely telling / It is treating an exodus,
which writers of every age have confessed to be the
grandest of epic subjects, as an ordinary every-day
affair.

The Mormons were setting out, under their
leader, from the borders of civilization, with their
wives and their children, in broad daylight, before
the very eyes of ten thousand of their enemies,
who would have preferred their utter destruction to
their " flight," notwithstanding they had enforced it
by treaties outrageous beyond description, inasmuch

1 6 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

as the exiles were nearly all American born, many
of them tracing their ancestors to the very founders
of the nation. They had to make a journey of
fifteen hundred miles over trackless prairies, sandy
deserts and rocky mountains, through bands of
warlike Indians, who had been driven, exasperated,
towards the West ; and at last, to seek out and
build up their Zion in valleys then unfruitful, in a
solitary region where the foot of the white man had
scarcely trod. These, too, were to be followed by
the aged, the halt, the sick and the blind, the poor,
who were to be helped by their little less destitute
brethren, and the delicate young mother with her
new-born babe at her breast, and still worse, for
they were not only threatened with the extermina-
tion of the poor remnant at Nauvoo, but news had
arrived that the parent-government designed to
pursue their pioneers with troops, take from them
their arms, and scatter them, that they might perish
by the way, and leave their bones bleaching in the
wilderness.

Yet did Brigham Young deal with the exodus of
his people as simply in its opening as he did in his
daily journal record of it. So, indeed, did the entire
Mormon community. They all seemed as oblivious
of the stupendous meaning of an exodus, as did the
first workers on railroads of the vast meaning« ; to
civilization of that wonder of the age. A people
trusting in their God, the Mormons were, in their
mission, superior to the greatest human trials, and
in their childlike faith equal to almost superhuman
undertakings. To-day , however, with the astonish-
ing change which has come over the spirit of the

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 7

scene, on the whole Pacific slope, since the Mor-
mons pioneered our nation towards the setting sun,
the picture of a modern Israel in their exodus has
almost faded from the popular mind ; but, in the
centuries hence, when the passing events of this
age shall have each taken their proper place, the
historian will point back to that exodus in the New
World 1 of, the West, as one quite worthy to rank
with the immortal exodus of the children of Israel.

»*'

CHAPTER III.

A LAW-GIVER IN THE WILDERNESS. THE MORMONS
THE FIRST AMERICAN EMIGRANTS TO CALIFORNIA
AND THE DISCOVERERS OF THE GOLD. THE SHIP
" BROOKLYN " SAILS FROM NEW YORK TO SAN
FRANCISCO WITH SIX HUNDRED MORMONS. PROP-
OSITIONS OF POLITICAL DEMAGOGUES TO SHARE
THE LANDS OF CALIFORNIA WITH THE SAINTS.
PRESIDENT POLK A SILENT PARTY TO THE
SCHEME. THREAT TO INTERCEPT THE PIONEERS
IF THEY REFUSED. A NOBLE RESOLVE. PETITION
TO THE GOVERNOR OF IOWA TERRITORY. THE
MONUMENT WE LEAVE.

It is due to the compeers of Brigham Young to
say that it was their consistency, devotion and
forcefulness of character that enabled him to lead
the Mormons through their wonderful exodus. As
seen in the previous chapter, Brigham Young
showed his fitness when he leapt into the wagon,
and, with a matchless might of will and self-con-
fidence, mastered the situation. Then came not an
oration, but practical dealing with the organization,
and counseling of the " Camp of Israel," to prepare
for an unparalleled journey.

In this simple but thorough manner, the great
leader set about his stupendous task ; but he closed

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 19

4

his first day's orders to the congregation with a real
touch of the law-giver's method. He said, "we will
11 have no laws we cannot keep, but we will have
11 order in the camp. If any want to live in peace
" when we have left this place, they must toe the
" mark." He then called upon all who wanted to
go with the camp to raise their right hands. " All
" hands flew up at the bidding," says the record.

After the dismissal of the congregation, the
President took several of the twelve with him half a
mile up a valley east of the camp and held a
council. A letter was read from Mr. Samuel
Brannan, of New York, with a copy of a curious
agreement between him and a Mr. A. G. Benson,
which had been sent west, under cover, for the
authorities to sign.

To make clear to the reader a story, which now
belongs to our national history, in connection with
the first settling of California, it must be observed
that this Brannan, once known as one of the mil-
lionaires of the " Golden State," had been the editor
of The Prophet, published at New York. He seems
to have been one of those sagacious men who saw
in Mormonism the means to their own ends. At
the date of the exodus he was in charge of a com-
pany of Saints, bound for the Pacific coast, in the
ship Brooklyn. They took all necessary outfit for
the first settlers of a new country, including a print-
ing press, upon which was afterwards struck off the
first regular newspaper of California. This com-
pany was, also, the earliest company of American
emigrants that arrived in the bay of San Francisco,
and really the pioneer emigration of American citi-

20 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

zens to the Golden State, for Fremont's volunteers
cannot be considered in that character. Indeed, it
is not a little singular that the Mormons were not
only the pioneers of Utah, but also the pioneers of
California, the builders of the first houses, the
starters of the first papers, and, what has contrib^
uted so much to the growth of the Pacific slope,
the men who discovered the gold, under Mr. Marshal,
the foreman of Sutter's mills. These facts, how-
ever, the people of California seem somewhat to
hide in the histories of their State.

Relative to the sailing of this company, Samuel
Brannan had written to the Mormon authorities.
Ex-Postmaster Amos Kendall, and the said Benson,
who seems to have been Kendall's agent, with
others of political influence, represented to Brannan
that, unless the leaders of the Church signed an
agreement with them, to which the President of the
United States, he said, was a "silent party," the
government would not permit the Mormons to pro-
ceed on their journey westward. This agreement
required the pioneers " to transfer to A. G. Benson
" & Co., and to their heirs and assigns, the odd
" numbers of all the lands and town lots they may
" acquire in the country where they may settle." In
case they refused to sign the agreement the Presi-
dent, it was said, would issue a proclamation,
setting forth that it was the intention of the Mor-
mons to take sides with either Mexico or Great
Britain against the United States, and order them
to be disarmed and dispersed. Both the letter and
contract are very characteristic, and the worldly-
minded man's poor imitation of the earnest reli-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 21

gionist has probably often since amused Mr. Bran-
nan himself. In his letter he said :

" I declare to all that you are not going to Cali-
' fornia, but Oregon, and that my information is
' official. Kendall has also learned that we have
1 chartered the ship Brooklyn, and that Mormons
' are going out in her ; and, it is thought, she will
' be searched for arms, and, if found, they will be
1 taken from us ; and if not, an order will be sent to
4 Commodore Stockton on the Pacific to search our
1 vessel before we land. Kendall will be in the city
1 next Thursday again, and then an effort will be
' made to bring about a reconciliation. I will make
1 you acquainted with the result before I leave."

The " reconciliation " between the Government
and the Mormons, as the reader will duly appre-
ciate, was to be effected by a division of the spoils
among political chiefs, including, if Brannan and
Kendall are to be relied on, the President of the
United States. The following letter of fourteen
days later date is too rich and graphic to be lost to
the public :

" New York, Jan. 26, '46.

Dear Brother Young :

I haste to lay before your honorable body the
result of my movements since I wrote you last,
which was from this city, stating some of my dis-
coveries, in relation to the contemplated movements
of the General Government in opposition to our
removal.

I had an interview with Amos Kendall, in com-
pany with Mr. Benson, which resulted in a com-
promise, the conditions of which you will learn by

22 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

reading the contract between them and us, which I
shall forward by this mail. I shall also leave a copy
of the same with Elder Appleby, who was present
when it was signed. Kendall is now our friend,
and will use his influence in our behalf, in connec-
tion with twenty-five of the most prominent dema-
gogues in the country. You will be permitted to
pass out of the States unmolested. Their counsel
is to go well armed, but keep them well secreted
from the rabble.

I shall select the most suitable spot on the Bay
of San Francisco for the location of a commercial
city. When I sail, which will be next Saturday, at
one o'clock, I shall hoist a flag with ' Oregon '
on it.

Immediately on the reception of this letter, you
must write to Mr. A. G. Benson, and let him know
whether you are willing to coincide with the con-
tract I have made for our deliverance. I am aware
it is a covenant with death, but we know that God
is able to break it, and will do it. The Children of
Israel, in their escape from Egypt, had to make
covenants for their safety, and leave it for God to
break them ; and the Prophet has said, ' As it was
then, so shall it be in the last days.' And I have
been led by a remarkable train of circumstances to
say, amen ; and I feel and hope you will do the
same.

Mr. Benson thinks the twelve should leave and
get out of the country first, and avoid being arrest-
ed, if it is a possible thing ; but if you are arrested,
you will find a staunch' friend in him ; and you will
find friends, and that a host, to deliver you from
their hands. If any of you are arrested, don't be
tried west of the Alleghany Mountains ; in the
East you will find friends that you little think of.

It is the prayer of the Saints in the East night
and day for your safety, and it is mine first in the
morning and the last in the evening.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 23

I must now bring my letter to a close. Mr.
Benson's address is No. 39 South Street ; and the
sooner you can give him answer the better it will
be for us. He will spend one month in Washington
to sustain you, and he will do it, no mistake. But
everything must be kept silent as death on our
part, names of parties in particular.

I now commit this sheet to the post, praying
that Israel's God may prevent it from falling into
the hands of wicked men. You will hear from me
again on the day of sailing, if it is the Lords will,
amen. Yours truly, a friend and brother in God's
kingdom,

S. Brannan."

The contract in question was signed by Samuel
Brannan and A. G. Benson, and witnessed by W. I.
Appleby. To it is this postscript :

This is only a copy of the original, which I have
filled out. It is no gammon, but will be carried
through, if you say, amen. It was drawn up by
Kendall's own hand ; but no person must be known
but Mr. Benson.

The following simple minute, in Brigham Young's
private journal, is a fine set-off to these docu-
ments :

Samuel Brannan urged upon the council the
signing of the document. The council considered
the subject, and concluded that as our trust was in
God, and that, as we looked to him for protection,
we would not sign any such unjust and oppressive
agreement. This was a plan of political dema-
gogues to rob the Latter-day Saints of millions,
and compel them to submit to it by threats of
Federal bayonets.

24 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

No matter what view the reader may take of the
Mormons and their leaders, relative to the intrinsic
value to the world of their social and theological
problems, no intelligent mind can help being struck
with the towering superiority of men trusting in
their God, in the supremest hour of trial, compared
with the foremost politicians in the country, includ-
ing a President of the United States, as illustrated
in the above example. It is charitably to be hoped,
however, that President Polk was a very " silent
party " to this scheme, and that his name was
merely used to give potency to the promise of
protection, and to the threat that the General Gov-
ernment would intercept the Mormons in their
exodus.

Little did the political demagogues of the time,
and these land speculators, understand the Mormon
people, and still less the character of the men who
were leading them ; nor did " Elder Brannan "
know them much better. From the beginning, the
Mormons never gave up an inch of their chosen
ground, never as a people consented to a compro-
mise, nor allowed themselves to be turned aside
from their purposes, nor wavered in their fidelity to
their faith. They would suffer expulsion, or make
an exodus if need be, yet ever, as in this case, have
they answered, " Our trust is in God. We look to
him for protection." So far, " Elder Brannan " un-
derstood them ; hence his profession of faith that
the Lord would overrule and break the " covenant
with death." But these men did wiser and better.
They never made the covenant, but calmly defied
the consequences, which they knew too well might

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 25

soon follow. Not even as much as to reply to
Messrs. Benson, Kendall & Co. did they descend
from the pinnacle of their integrity.

But, be it not for a moment thought that the
Mormon leaders did not fully comprehend their
critical position in all its aspects. A homely anec-
dote of the apostle George A. Smith will illustrate
those times. At a council in Nauvoo, of the men
who were to act as the captains of the people in
that famous exodus, one after the other brought up
difficulties in their path until their prospect was
without one poor speck of daylight. The good
nature of " George A." was provoked at last, when
he sprang up and observed with his quaint humor
that had now a touch of the grand in it, " If there is
" no God in Israel we are a ' sucked in ' set of
" fellows. But I am going to take my family and
" cross the river, and the Lord will open the way."
He was one of the first to set out on that miracu-
lous journey to the Rocky Mountains.

Having resolved to trust in their God and them-
selves, quietly setting aside the politicians, Brigham
and several of the twelve left the " Camp of Israel "
for a few days, and returned to bid farewell to their
beloved Nauvoo, and hold a parting service in the
temple. This was the last time Brigham Young
ever saw that sacred monument of the Mormons'
devotion.

The Pioneers had now been a month on Sugar
Creek, and during the time had, of course, con-
sumed a vast amount of the provisions, indeed
nearly all, which had been gathered up for their
journey. Their condition, however, was not with-

26 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

out its compensation ; for it checked the move-
ments of the mob, among whom the opinion pre-
vailed that the outfit of the pioneers was so utterly
insufficient that, in a short time, they would break
in pieces and scatter. Moreover, it was mid-winter
Up to the date of their starting from this first
camping ground, detachments continued to join
them, crossing the Mississippi, from Nauvoo, on
the ice ; but before starting they addressed the
following memorial :

" To His Excelle7tcy Governor of the Territory of

Iowa.
Honored Sir:

The time is at hand in which several thousand
free citizens of this great Republic are to be driven
from their peaceful homes and firesides, their prop-
erty and farms, and their dearest constitutional
rights, to wander in the barren plains and sterile
mountains of western wilds, and linger out their
lives in wretched exile, far beyond the pale of pro-
fessed civilization, or else be exterminated upon
their own lands by the people and authorities of
the State of Illinois.

As life is sweet, we have chosen banishment
rather than death, but, sir, the terms of our banish-
ment are so rigid, that we have not sufficient time
allotted us to make the necessary preparations to
encounter the hardships and difficulties of these
dreary and uninhabited regions. We have not time
allowed us to dispose of our property, dwellings and
farms, consequently many of us will have to leave
them unsold, without the means of procuring the
necessary provisions, clothing, teams, &c, to sustain
us but a short distance beyond the settlements ;

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 2 J

hence our persecutors have placed us in very un-
pleasant circumstances.

To stay is death by ' fire and sword ; ' to go
into banishment unprepared, is death by starvation.
But yet, under these heart-rending circumstances,
several hundred of us have started upon our
dreary journey, and are now encamped in Lee
County, Iowa, suffering much from the intensity of
the cold. Some of us are already without food,
and others have barely sufficient to last a few
weeks : hundreds of others must shortly follow us
in the same unhappy condition, therefore:

We, the presiding authorities of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as a committee in
behalf of several thousand suffering exiles, humbly
ask Your Excellency to shield and protect us in our
constitutional rights, while we are passing through
the Territory over which you have jurisdiction. And,
should any of the exiles be under the necessity of
stopping in this Territory for a time, either in settled
or unsettled parts, for the purpose of raising crops,
by renting farms or upon public lands, or to make
the necessary preparations for their exile in any
lawful way, we humbly petition Your Excellency to
use an influence and power in our behalf, and thus
preserve thousands of American citizens, together
with their wives and children, from intense suffer-
ings, starvation and death. And your petitioners
will ever pray.

In the diary of the President is a sort of a vale-
dictory, written before starting on their journey
from Sugar Creek, which concludes thus : " Our
" homes, gardens, orchards, farms, streets, bridges,
" mills, public halls, magnificent temple and other
" public improvements, we leave as a monument
" of our patriotism, industry, economy, upright-
" ness of purpose and integrity of heart, and as

28 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

" a living testimony of the falsehood and wicked-
" ness of those who charge us with disloyalty to the
" constitution of our country, idleness and dis-
" honesty."

CHAPTER IV.

THE MORMONS ON THE MARCH. THEIR ORGANIC
CONDITION. THEY MOVE AS A NATION. A PRO-
PHET AND LIEUT.-GENERAL. MORMON LIFE ON
THE JOURNEY. THEY PRAISE THE LORD IN THE
SONG AND IN THE DANCE. THEY BUILD TEMPO-
RARY CITIES ON THE WAY. A SENSATION FROM
THE U. S. GOVERNMENT.

At home or abroad, in their very dispersions as
much as in their gathering, the Mormons have been
organic beyond any people known to history. Or-
ganism, indeed, is the essential manifestation of
their genius ; so now, even in their exodus, they
were still strictly a community. Their proverb is,
" Where the Presidency and Twelve are there is the
" Church." They were journeying to the mountains
as a little nation. At their head was not only a
prophet but a lieutenant-general. The rank had
originally been conferred on Joseph Smith by the
Legislature of Illinois, when it granted the charter
to the city of Nauvoo and to the Nauvoo legion.
After the martyrdom, Brigham Young succeeded to
the rank of lieutenant-general. Here is the extra-
ordinary commission :

30 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

" Thomas Ford. Governor of the State of Illinois.
To all to whom these Presents shall come greeting :

Know ye that Brigham Young, having been
duly elected to the office of Lieutenant-General of
the Nauvoo Legion of the Militia of the State of
Illinois, I, Thomas Ford, Governor of said State,
for and in behalf of the people of said State, do
commission him Lieutenant-General of the Nauvoo
Legion, to take rank from the 31st day of August,
1844. He is, therefore, carefully and diligently to
discharge the duties of said office by doing and per-
forming all manner of things thereunto belonging ;
and I do strictly require all officers under his com-
mand to be obedient to his orders ; and he is to
obey such orders and directions as he shall receive
from time to time, from the Commander-in-chief or
his superior officer.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my
hand and caused the Great Seal of State to be
affixed. Done at Springfield, this 24th day of
September, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and forty-four, and of the independ-
ence of the United States the sixty-ninth.

By the Governor, Thomas Ford.

Thomas Campbell, Secy of State?

It is a singular fact that, after Washington,
Joseph Smith was the first man in America who
held the rank of lieutenant-general, and that Brig-
ham Young was the next. In reply to a comment
of the author upon this fact, Brigham Young said :
" I was never much of a military man. The com-
11 mission has since been abrogated by the State of
" Illinois, but if Joseph had lived when the war

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 3 1

" broke out, he would have become commander-in-
" chief of the United States armies."

It was the marvellous will and almost super-
human energy of the man that, in 1846, inspired the
Mormons in their exodus from civilization. The
organic character of Brigham Young which, in mov-
ing a people and building up a new society, has
shown itself to be quite the equal of the great Napo-
leon's and decidedly more preservative, was mani-
festing itself in the very best methods. It was evi-
dent to the lookers on that the man was attempting
to show to modern times the wonderful spectacle
of a migrating nation.

At about noon, on the 1st of March, 1846, the
" Camp of Israel " began to move, and at four
o'clock nearly four hundred wagons were on the
way travelling in a north-westerly direction. At
night, they camped again on Sugar Creek, having
advanced five miles. Scraping away the snow they
pitched their tents upon the hard frozen ground ;
and, after building large fires in front, they made
themselves as comfortable as possible under the
circumstances. Indeed, it is questionable whether
any other people in the world could have cozened
themselves into a happy state of mind amid such
surroundings, with such a past, fresh and bleeding
in their memories, and with such a prospect as was
before both themselves and the remnant of their
brethren left in Nauvoo to the tender mercies of
the mob. In his diary Apostle Orson Pratt wrote
that night, " Notwithstanding our sufferings, hard-
" ships and privations, we are cheerful, and rejoice
,f that we have the privilege of passing through
11 tribulation for the truth's sake."

32 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG \ OR,

These Mormon pilgrims, who took much consola-
tion on their journey in likening themselves to the
pilgrim fathers and mothers of this nation, whose
descendants many of them actually were, that night
made their beds upon the frozen earth. " After
" bowing before our great Creator," wrote Apostle
Pratt, " and offering up praise and thanksgiving to
" him, and imploring his protection, we resigned
*' ourselves to the slumbers of the night."

But the weather was more moderate that night
than it had been for several weeks previous. At
their first encampment the thermometer, at one
time, fell 20 deg. below zero, freezing over the great
Mississippi. The survivors of that journey will
tell you they never suffered so much from the cold
in their lives as they did on Sugar Creek. And
what of the Mormon women ? Around them circles
almost a tragic romance. Fancy may find abundant
subject for graphic story of the devotion, the suffer-
ing, the matchless heroism of the " Sisters," in the
telling incident that nine children were born to
them the first night they camped out on Sugar
Creek, Feb. 5th, 1846. That day they wept their
farewells over their beloved city, or in the sanctuary
of the temple, in which they had hoped to worship
till the end of life, but which they left never to see
again ; that night suffering nature administered to
them the mixed cup of woman's supremest joy and
pain.

But it was not prayer alone that sustained these
pilgrims. The practical philosophy of their great
leader, daily and hourly applied to the exigencies
of their case, did almost as much as their own

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 33

matchless faith to sustain them from the commence-
ment to the end of their journey. With that
leader had very properly come to the " Camp of
Israel " several of the Twelve and the chief bishops
of the church, but he also brought with him a quo-
rum humble in pretensions, yet useful as high
priests to the saints in those spirit-saddening days.
It was Captain Pitt's brass band. That night the
President had the " brethren " and " sisters " out
in the dance, and the music was as glad as at a
merry-making. Several gentlemen from Iowa
gathered to witness the strange interesting scene..
They could scarcely believe their own senses when
they were told that these were the Mormons in
their " flight from civilization," bound they knew
not whither, except where God should lead them by
the " hand of his servant."

Thus in the song and the dance the Saints:
praised the Lord. When the night was fine, and
supper, which consisted of the most primitive fare,
was over, some of the men would clear away the
snow, while others bore large logs to the camp fires
in anticipation of the jubilee of the evening. Soon,
in a sheltered place the blazing fires would roar, and
fifty couples, old and young, would join, in the mer-
riest spirit, to the music of the band, or the rival
revelry of the solitary fiddle. As they journeyed
along, too, strangers constantly visited their camps,
and great was their wonderment to see the order,
unity and good feeling that prevailed in the midst
of the people. By the camp fires they would linger,
listening to the music and song ; and they fain
had taken part in the merriment had not those

34 LI FE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

scenes been as sacred worship in the exodus of a
God-fearing people. To fully understand the inci-
dents here narrated, the reader must couple in his
mind the idea of an exodus with the idea of an
Israelitish jubilee ; for it was a jubilee to the Mor-
mons to be delivered from their enemies at any
price.

The sagacious reader will readily appreciate the
wise method pursued by Brigham Young. Prayers
availed much. The hymn and the prayer were
never forgotten at the close of the dance, before
they dispersed, to make their bed within the shelter
of the wagon, or under it, exposed to the cold of
those bitter nights^But the dance and the song
kept the Mormon pilgrims cheerful and healthy in
mind, whereas, had a spirit of gloomy fanaticism
been encouraged, such as one might have expected,
most likely there would soon have been murmuring
in the congregation against their Moses, and the
people would have been sighing for the flesh-pots
of Egypt. The patriarchal care of Brigham Young
over the migrating thousands was also something
uncommon. It was extended to every family, every
soul ; even the very animals had the master friend
near to ease and succor them. A thousand anec-
dotes could be told of that journey to illustrate
this. When traveling, or in camp, he was ever
looking after the welfare of all. No poor horse or
ox even had a tight collar or a bow too small but
his eye would see it. Many times did he get out
of his vehicle and see that some suffering animal
was relieved.

There can be no doubt that the industrious

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 35

habits of the Mormons, and the semi-communistic
character of their camps, enabled them to accom-
plish on their journey what otherwise would have
been impossible. They were almost destitute at the
start, but they created resources on the way. Their
pioneers and able-bodied men generally took work
on farms, split rails, cleared the timber for the new
settlers, fenced their lands, built barns and husked
their corn. Each night brought them some employ-
ment ; and, if they laid over for a day or two at
their encampment, the country around was busy
with their industry. They also scattered for work,
some of them going even into Missouri among
their ancient enemies to turn to the smiter the
" other cheek," while they were earning support for
their families.

At one of their first camping grounds, on a ten-
acre lot which the pioneer had cleared of timber,
they made the acquaintance of its owner, a Dr.
Jewett. The worthy doctor was an enthusiast over
mesmerism and animal magnetism, so he sought to
convert the Mormon leaders to his views. Brigham
replied, " I perfectly understand it, doctor. We
41 believe in the Lord's magnetizing. He magnetized
u Belshazzar so that he saw the hand-writing on the
41 wall." The Mormons, too, had seen the hand-writ-
ing on the wall, and were hastening to the moun-
tains.

The citizens of Farmington came over to invite

the " Nauvoo band," under Captain Pitt, to come to

their village for a concert. There was some music

• left in the " brethren." They had not forgotten

how to sing the " Songs of Zion," so they made the

36 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ] OR,

good folks of Farmington merry, and for a time for-
got their own sorrows.

As soon as the " Camp of Israel " was fairly on
the march, the leader, with the Twelve and the cap-
tains, divided it into companies of " hundreds,"
" fifties," and " tens ; " and then the companies
took up their line in order, Brigham directing the
whole, and bringing up the main body, with .the
chief care of. the families.

The weather was still intensely cold. The
pioneers moved in the face of keen-edged north-
west winds ; they broke the ice to give their cattle
drink ; they made their beds on the soaked prairie
lands ; heavy rains and snow by day, and frost at
night rendered their situation anything but pleasant.
The bark and limbs of trees were the principal food
of their animals, and after doubling their teams all
day wading through the deep mud, the companies
would find themselves at night only a few miles on
their journey. They grew sick of this at last, and
for three weeks rested on the head-waters of the
Chariton, waiting for the freshets to subside.

These incidents of travel were varied by an occa-
sional birth in camp. There was also the death of
a lamented lady early on the journey. She was a
gentle, intelligent wife of a famous Mormon mis-
sionary, Orson Spencer, once a Baptist minister of
excellent standing. She had requested the brethren
to take her with them. She would not be left be-
hind. Life was too far exhausted by the persecu-
tions to survive the exodus, but she could yet have
the honor of dying in that immortal circumstance
of her people. Several others of the sisters also

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 37

died at the very starting. Ah, who shall fitly pic-
ture the lofty heroism of the Mormon women !

Amid all this, the remnant of the Saints left at
Nauvoo were not forgotten. The Presidents views
of their condition, and the thanksgiving of the
pioneers over the deliverance from their Egypt, he
told to his brother Joseph in a letter dated, " Rich-
ardson's Point, Camp of Israel, fifty-five miles from
Nauvoo, March 9." He wrote :

11 I feel as though Nauvoo will be filled with all
" manner of abominations. It is no place for the
" Saints, and the Spirit whispers to me that the
" brethren had better get away as fast as they can.
" We pray for you continually. I hope the brethren
" will not have trouble there, but the dark clouds of
" sorrow are gathering fast over that place. It is a
" matter of doubt about any of the Twelve returning
" to Nauvoo very soon. It is not the place for me
" any more, till this nation is scourged by the hand
" of the Almighty, who rules in the heavens. This
" nation shall feel the heavy hand of judgment.
" They have shed the blood of prophets and saints,
" and have been the means of the death of many.
" Do not think, Brother Joseph, that I hate to leave
" my house and home. No, far from that, I am so
" free from bondage at this time, that Nauvoo looks
" like a prison to me. It looks pleasant ahead, but
" dark to look back."

A rumor had reached Nauvoo that there was
division in the " Camp of Israel," and that Brigham
had been shot at. To this he replied in his letter:

" This is all false. We have the most, perfect
11 peace that ever a camp had. There is not a word

38 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

" of contention through the whole camp. The Lord
" is with us, and praised be his name, all is welL
" Glory ! Hallelujah ! And I think I shall feel
" more so when we get a few miles farther west."

It was near the Chariton that the organization of
the " Camp of Israel " was perfected, on the 27th of
March, when Brigham was formally chosen as the
President, and captains of hundreds, fifties and tens
were appointed.

Thus the Twelve became relieved of their mere
secular commands, and were placed at the heads of
divisions, in their more apostolic character, as
presidents.

The provisioning of the camp was also equally
brought under organic management. Henry G.
Sherwood was appointed contracting commissary
for the first fifty ; David D. Yearsley for the second ;
W. H. Edwards for the third ; Peter Haws for the
fourth; Samuel Gulley for the fifth ; Joseph War-
than for the sixth. Henry G. Sherwood ranked as
acting commissary-general. There were also dis-
tributing commissaries appointed. Their duties,
says the President's diary, " are to make a righteous
" distribution of grain and provisions, and such
" articles as shall be furnished for the use of the
" camp, among their respective fifties."

Thus it will be seen that the "Camp of Israel"
now partook very much of a military character, with
all of an army's organic efficiency.

The strictest laws of honesty, too, were enjoined
on the camps. A case or two will illustrate this.
At Chariton a boy shot an otter on the bank of
the river, and then discovered that it was caught in

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 39

a trap. He skinned it and brought it to camp.
The trapper came and complained that he had lost
several of his traps. The boy was brought up to
council, and the next morning he was sent over to
the trapper with the skin and the trap, under charge
of Col. Markham, who bore a message from the
council to the trapper that, if one of his traps was
found in the camp, within a thousand miles of that
place, it should be sent back to him with the man
who took it. Moreover, on the morning of their
leaving the Chariton, the camp was searched for the
two lost traps. The leader of the Mormon Israel-
ites seemed to have a godly remembrance of the
plagues which fell upon the camps of ancient Israel
for harboring stolen goods.

About this time also an attempt was made to
pass counterfeit money. It was the case of a young
man who bought from a Mr. Cochran a yoke of
oxen, a cow and a chain, for fifty dollars. Bishop
Miller wrote to Brigham to excuse the young man,
but to help Cochran to restitution. The President
was aroused to great anger. The bishop was
severely rebuked, the property ordered to be re-
stored, and the anathemas of the leader from that
time were thundered against thieves and " bogus
men " and passers of bogus money.

The anti-Mormons have ever delighted to tell
stories of this class of the Mormons at Nauvoo, and
to affirm that it was because of their crimes they
were driven forth from Missouri and Illinois. Some
such characters were doubtless among them, and it
can well be understood how a few expulsions would
breed them, but the fact is just as patent, that no

40 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

sooner did Brigham get the Mormons into the
" wilderness," than he sought to drive out this class
from the " Congregation of Israel."

The following is a minute of his diary of a
council on the next Sunday, with the twelve
bishops and the captains :

" I told them I was satisfied that the course we
" were taking would prove to be the salvation, not
u only of this camp, but of the saints left behind.
11 But there had been things done which were
u wrong. Some pleaded our suffering from perse-
" cution, and the loss of our homes and property, as
" a justification for retaliating upon our enemies,
" but such a course tends to destroy the kingdom of
" God."

This, in a nutshell, seems to be the explanation of
many of the objectionable features in Mormon history
from the beginning to this day. To expect no re- ;
taliation under wrongs such as the Mormons have
borne, would be too much to expect from pugna-
cious human nature ; yet have the Mormons, as a
people, returned good for evil, even in their expul-
sions and martyrdoms.

Towards the end of April the camp came to a
place the leaders named Garden Grove. Here they
determined to form a small settlement, open farms, «
and make a temporary gathering place for " the
poor," while the better prepared were to push on
the way and make other settlements.

On the morning of the 27th of April the
bugle sounded at Garden Grove, and all the
men assembled to organize for labor. Imme-.
diately hundreds of men were at work cutting

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 41

trees, splitting rails, making fences, cutting logs for
houses, building bridges, digging wells, making
ploughs and herding cattle. Quite a number were
sent into the Missouri settlements to exchange
horses for oxen, valuable feather beds and the like
for provisions and articles most needed in the camp,
and the remainder engaged in ploughing and plant-
ing. Messengers were also dispatched to call in the
bands of pioneers scattered over the country seek-
ing work, with instructions to hasten them up to
help form the new settlements before the season
had passed ; so that, in a scarcely conceivable time,
at Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah, industrious
settlements sprang up almost as if by magic. The
main body also hurried on toward old Council Bluffs,
under the President and his chief men, to locate win-
ter quarters, and to send on a picked company of
pioneers that year to the Rocky Mountains. Reach-
ing the Missouri River, they were welcomed by the
Pottowatomie and Omaha Indians.

By this time Apostle Orson Hyde had arrived at
head quarters from Nauvoo, and Apostle Woodruff,
home from his mission to England, was- at Mount
Pisgah. To this place an express from the Presi-
dent at Council Bluffs came to raise one hundred
men for the expedition to the mountains. Apostle
Woodruff called for the mounted volunteers, and
sixty at once followed him out into the line ; but
the next day an event occurred which caused the
postponement of the journey to the mountains till
the following year.

It was on the 26th of June, when the camp at
Mount Pisgah was thrown into consternation by

42 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

the cry, "The United States troops are upon us I"
But soon afterwards, Captain James Allen arriving
with only three dragoons, the excitement subsided.
The High Council was called, and Captain Allen
laid before it his business, which is set forth in the
following :

Circular to the Mormons :

I have come among you, instructed by Col. S. F.
Kearney, of the. U. S. army, now commanding the
Army of the West, to visit the Mormon camp, and
to accept the service for twelve months of four or
five companies of Mormon men who may be willing
to serve their country for that period in our present
war with Mexico ; this force to unite with the Army
of the West at Santa Fee, and be marched thence
to California, where they will be discharged.

They will receive pay and rations, and other
allowances, such as other volunteers or regular
soldiers receive, from the day they shall be mustered
into the service, and will be entitled to all comforts
and benefits of regular soldiers of the army, and
when discharged, as contemplated, at California,
they will be given gratis their arms and accoutre-
ments, with which they will be fully equipped at
Fort Leavenworth. This is offered to the Mormon
people now. This year ah opportunity of sending
a portion of their young and intelligent men to the
ultimate destination of their whole people, and en-
tirely at the expense of the United States, and. this
advanced party can thus pave the way and look out
the land for their brethren to come after them.

Those of the Mormons who are desirous of serv-
ing their country, on the conditions here enumer-
ated, are requested to meet me without delay at
their principal camp at the Council Bluffs, whither
I am now going to consult with their principal men,

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 43

and to receive and organize the force contemplated
to be raised.

I will receive all healthy, able-bodied men of
from eighteen to forty-five years of age.

J.Allen, Capt. \st Dragoons.

Camp of the Mormons, at Mount Pisgah, 138 miles
east of Council Bluffs, June 26th, 1846.

Note. — I hope to complete the organization of
this battalion in six days after my reaching Council
Bluffs, or within nine days from this time.

The High Council of Mount Pisgah treated the
military envoy with studied courtesy, but the matter
was of too great importance for even an opinion to
be hazarded in the absence of the master mind ; so
Captain Allen was furnished with a letter of intro-
duction to Brigham Young and the authorities at
head-quarters, and a special messenger was dis-
patched by Apostle Woodruff to prepare the Presi-
dent for the business of the Government agent.

CHAPTER V.

THE CALL FOR THE " MORMON BATTALION." INTER-
VIEWS WITH PRESIDENT POLK. THE APOSTLES
ENLISTING SOLDIERS FROM THEIR PEOPLE FOR
THE SERVICE OF THE NATION. THE BATTALION

ON THE MARCH.

We now come to a subject in Mormon history of
which two opposite views have been taken, neither
of which, perhaps, are unqualifiedly correct. It is
that of the calling of a Mormon battalion to serve
the nation in its war with Mexico, as set forth in
the circular already given. One view is that the
Government, prompted by such men as Senator
Benton of Missouri, sought to destroy, or at least
to cripple the Mormons, by taking from them five
hundred of their best men, in an Indian country,
and in their exodus ; while the other view is that
the Government designed their good and honor.
The truth is that a few honorable gentlemen like
Colonel Thomas L. Kane did so design ; but it is
equally true that the great majority heartily wished
for their utter extinction ; while Senator Douglass
and many other politicians, seeing in this vast
migration of the Mormons towards the Pacific the
ready and most efficient means to wrest California
from Mexico, favored the calling of the battalion

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 45

for national conquest, without caring what after-
wards became of those heroic men who left their
families and people in the " wilderness," or whether
those families perished by the way or not. More-
over, the Mormon leaders are in possession of what
appears to be very positive evidence that, after
President Polk issued the " call," Senator Thomas
Benton obtained from him the pledge that, should
the Mormons refuse to respond, United States
troops should pursue, cut off their route, and dis-
perse them. Such a covenant was villainous beyond
expression ; for to have dispersed the Mormon pil-
grims at that moment would have been to have
devoted a whole people to the cruelest martyrdom.

In any view of the case, it shows that Brigham
Young was a statesman, and that the Mormons
were an essentially loyal and patriotic people ; and,
if we take the darkest view, which be it emphatically
affirmed was the one of that hour, then does the
masterly policy of Brigham Young, and the conduct
of the Mormons, stand out sublime and far-seeing
beyond most of the examples of history. The
reader has noted Mr. Brannan's letter, received by
the leaders before starting on their journey ; they
looked upon this " call " for from five hundred to a
thousand of the flower of their camps as the fulfill-
ment of the " threat." The excuse to annihilate
them they believed was sought ; even the General
Government dared not disperse and disarm them
without an excuse. At the best an extraordinary
test of their loyalty was asked of them, under cir-
cumstances that would have required the thrice
hardening of a Pharaoh's heart to have exacted.

46 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

Mount Pisgah had been thrown into consternation
with the cry, "The United States troops are upon
" us ! " And the High Council had sat in grave
silence, without venturing even' a probable answer
to the Government agent. But at Council Bluffs
was a matchless leader, ready to master the
situation.

Here it will be only just to both sides to give
Colonel Kane's statement, in his historical discourse
on the Mormons, delivered before the Historical
Society of Pennsylvania, as that gentleman sustained
in the case very much the character of a special
agent of the Administration to the Mormons. He
said :

" At the commencement of the Mexican war, the
" President considered it desirable to march a body
" of reliable infantry to California, at as early a
" period as practicable, and the known hardihood
" and habits of discipline of the Mormons were
" supposed peculiarly to fit them for this service.
" As California was supposed also to be their ulti-
" mate destination, the long march might cost them
" less than other citizens. They were accordingly
" invited to furnish a battalion of volunteers early
" in the month of July.

1 The call could hardly have been more incon-
" veniently timed. The young and those who could
" best have been spared, were then away from the
11 main body, either with pioneer companies in the
" van, or, their faith unannounced, seeking work
" and food about the north-western settlements, tc
" support them till the return of the season for com-
" mencing emigration. The force was, therefore, to

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 47

" be recruited from among the fathers of families,
" and others, whose presence it was most desirable
" to retain.

" There were some, too, who could not view the
" invitation without distrust ; they had twice been
*■ persuaded by Government authorities in Illinois
" and Missouri, to give up their arms on some
u special appeals to their patriotic confidence, and
" had then been left to the malice of their enemies.
" And now they were asked, in the midst of the
" Indian country, to surrender over five hundred of
" their best men for a war march of thousands of
" miles to California, without the hope of return till
" after the conquest of that country. Could they
" view such a proposition with favor ?

" But the feeling of country triumphed ; the
" Union had never wronged them. 'You shall have
" your battalion at once, if it has to be a class of
" elders/ said one, himself a ruling elder. A central
" mass-meeting for council, some harangues at the
" more remotely scattered camps, an American flag
" brought out from the storehouse of things rescued,
" and hoisted to the top of a tree-mast, and, in three
" days, the force was reported, mustered, organized
" and ready to march."

The foregoing is a graphic summary, but the
reader will ask for something more of detail of this
one of the chief episodes of Mormon history.

On the ist of July Captain Allen was in council
at the Bluffs with Brigham Young, Heber C. Kim-
ball, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Willard Richards,
George A Smith, John Taylor John Smith and
Levi Richards. At head-quarters they had not

48 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

nearly sufficient force to raise the battalion. Yet
they lost not a moment. In the character of re-
cruiting sergeants Brigham, Heber and Willard at
once set out for Mount Pisgah, a distance of 130
miles, on the back track. Here they met Elder
Jesse C. Little, home from Washington, having had
interviews with President Polk and other members
of the Government. A condensation of Elder
Little's report will, at last, give to the public the
original plan of the Government in the call of the
battalion :

To President Brigham Young and the Council
of the Twelve Apostles :

Brethren : In your letter of appointment to me
dated Temple of God, Nauvoo, January 26th, 1846,
you suggested, "If our Government should offer
facilities for emigrating to the western coast, em-
brace those facilities if possible. As a wise and
faithful man, take every honorable advantage of the
times you can. Be thou a Savior and a deliverer
of the people, and let virtue, integrity and truth be
your motto — salvation and glory the prize for which
you contend" In accordance with my instructions,
1 felt an anxious desire for the deliverance of the
Saints, and resolved upon visiting James K. Polk,
President of the United States, to lay the situation
of my persecuted brethren before him, and ask him,
as the representative of our country, to stretch
forth the Federal arm in their behalf. Accordingly
I called upon Governor Steele, of New Hampshire,
with whom I had been acquainted from my youth,
and other philanthropic gentlemen to obtain letters
of recommendation to the heads of the depart-
ments.

Governor Steele gave to Elder Little a letter of

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 49

introduction to Mr. Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy,
in which the Governor said :

Mr. Little visits Washington, if I understand it
correctly, for the purpose of procuring, or endeavor-
ing to procure, the freight of any provisions or
naval stores which the Government may be desirous
of sending to Oregon, or to any portion of the Pa-
cific. He is thus desirous of obtaining freight for
the purpose of lessening the expense of chartering
vessels to convey him and his followers to Califor-
nia, where they intend going and making a perma-
nent settlement the present Summer.

Yours truly,

John Steele.

From Col. Thomas L. Kane, Elder Little received
a letter of introduction to the Hon. George M.
Dallas, Vice-Pres't of the U. S., in which the writer
said :

This gentleman visits Washington with no
other object than the laudable one of desiring aid
of Government for his people, who, forced by per-
secution to found a new commonwealth in the Sacra-
mento Valley, still retain American hearts, and
would not willingly sell themselves to the foreigner,
or forget the old commonwealth they leave be-
hind.

Armed with these and other letters, Mr. Little
started to Washington from Philadelphia, where he
had enlisted, for his afflicted people, the zealous
friendship of the patriotic brother of the great
Arctic explorer ; and, soon after his arrival at the
capital, he obtained an introduction to President
Polk, through ex-Postmaster-General Amos Ken-

50 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

dall. The Elder was favorably received by Mr.
Polk, which emboldened him to address a formal
petition to the President, which he closed as fol-
lows :

From twelve to fifteen thousand Mormons have
already left Nauvoo for California, and many others
are making ready to go ; some have gone around
Cape Horn, and I trust, before this time, have land-
ed at the Bay of San Francisco. We have about
forty thousand in the British Isles, all determined
to gather to this land, and thousands will sail this
Fall. There are also many thousands scattered
through the States, besides the great number in and
around Nauvoo, who will go to California as soon
as possible, but many of them are destitute of
money to pay their passage either by sea or
land.

We are true-hearted Americans, true to our na-
tive country, true to its laws, true to its glorious in-
stitutions ; and we have a desire to go under the
outstretched wings of the American Eagle ; we
would disdain to receive assistance from a foreign
power, although it should be proffered, unless our
Government shall turn us off in this great crisis, and
compel us to be foreigners.

If you will assist us -in this crisis, I hereby pledge
my honor, as the representative of this people, that
the whole body will stand ready at your call, and
act as one- man in the land to which we are going;
and should our Territory be invaded, we will hold
ourselves ready to enter the field of battle, and then-
like our patriotic fathers, make the battle-field our
grave, or gain our liberty.

There were present, at the first interview between
the Mormon Elder and the President of the United
States, Gen. Sam. Houston, just from Texas, upon

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 5 1

Mexican affairs, and other distinguished men. A sin-
gular circumstance in American history is here con-
nected ; for at that important juncture in the history
of our nation as well as the Mormons, Washington
was thrown into great excitement by the news that
Gen. Taylor had fought two battles with the Mexi-
cans. This important event was directly bearing on
the affairs of the Mormons, as much as upon those
of the nation at large. The news of the actual com-
mencement of the war between the two rival Repub-
lics came in the very nick of time. Had Elder
Little arrived in Washington six months before, or
six months later, there would have been a marked
variation from that which came to pass. We know
not what the exact difference would have been, but
it is most certain that President Polk would not
then have designed to possess California by the
help of these State-founding Saints, nor would
their shovels have turned up the gold at Sut-
ter's Mill, nor would General Stephen F. Kearney
have had at his back the Mormon battalion as his
chief force, when he made himself master of the
land of precious metals, and put his rival, Fremont,
under arrest. -

The day after his first interview with President
Polk, Elder Little called again upon ex-Postmaster-
General Kendall, who informed him that the Presi-
dent had determined to take possession of Califor-
nia ; that he designed to use the Mormons for this
purpose, and that they would receive orders to push
through to fortify the country. This induced the
Elder to address the petition already quoted.

The President now laid the matter before the

52 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

cabinet. The plan offered to his colleagues was for
the Elder to go direct to the Mormon camp, to raise
from among them " one thousand picked men, to
" make a dash into California and take possession
" of it in the name of the United States." The bat-
talion was to be officered by their own men, ex-
cepting the commanding officer, who was to be
appointed by President Polk, and to take cannon
and everything necessary for the defence of the
country. One thousand more of the Mormons
from the Eastern States were proposed to be sent
by way of Cape Horn, in a U. S. transport, for the
same service. This was the original plan which
President Polk laid before his cabinet. .

After this Elder Little had his second interview
with President Polk, who told the Elder that he
" had no prejudices against the Saints, but he be-
" lieved them to be good citizens;" that he "was
" willing to do them all the good in his power con-
" sistently ; " that " they should be protected ; " and
that he had "read the petition with interest." He
further emphatically observed that he had " confi-
" dence in the Mormons as true American citizens,
" or he would not make such propositions as those
" he^ designed." This interview lasted three hours,
so filled was the President with his plan of possess-
ing California by the aid of the Mormons. But this
generous design was afterward changed through
the influence of Senator Benton.

Before his departure west, Elder Little had
another special interview with the President, who
further said that he had " received the Mormon
" suffrages," that " they should be remembered ; "

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. , * 53

and that he had " instructed the Secretary of War
" to make out dispatches to Colonel Kearney, com-
" mander of the Army of the West, relative to the
" Mormon battalion."

On the 1 2th of June, Elder Little, in company
with Colonel Thomas L. Kane, started for the
West, the Colonel bearing special dispatches from
the Government to General Kearney, who was at
Fort Leavenworth. Judge Kane journeyed with
his son as far as St. Louis.

The following is the order under which the bat-
talion was mustered into service :

Head-quarters, Army of the West,

Fort Leavenworth, June 19, 1846.
Sir :

It is understood that there is a large body of
Mormons who are desirous of emigrating to Cali-
fornia, for the purpose of settling in that country,
and I have therefore to direct that you will proceed
to their camps and endeavor to raise from amongst
them four or five companies of volunteers, to join
me in my expedition to that country, each company
to consist of any number between 73 and 109 ; the
officers of each company will be a captain, first lieu-
tenant and second lieutenant, who will be elected
by the privates, and subject to your approval, and
the captains then to appoint the non-commissioned
officers, also subject to your approval. The com-
panies, upon being thus organized, will be mustered
by you into the service of the United States, and
from that day will commence to receive the pay,
rations and other allowances given to the other
infantry volunteers, each according to his rank.
You will, upon mustering into service the fourth
company, be considered as having the rank, pay

54 ' LIFE OF BRIGIIAM YOUNG ; OR,

and emoluments of a lieutenant-colonel of infantry,
and are authorized to appoint an adjutant, sergeant-
major, and quartermaster-sergeant for the battalion.

The companies, after being organized, will be
marched to this post, where they will be armed and
prepared for the field, after which they .will, under
your command, follow on my trail in the direction
of Santa Fee, and where you will receive further
orders from me.

You will, upon organizing the companies, require
provisions, wagons, horses, mules, &c. You must
purchase everything that is necessary, and give the
necessary drafts upon the Quartermaster and Com-
missary departments at this post, which drafts will
be paid upon presentation.

You will have the Mormons distinctly to under-
stand that I wish to have them as volunteers for
twelve months ; that they will be marched to Cali-
fornia, receiving pay and allowances during the
above time, and at its expiration they will be dis-
charged, and allowed to retain, as their private
property, the guns and accoutrements furnished to
them at this post.

Each company will be allowed four women as
laundresses, who will travel with the company, re-
ceiving rations and other allowances given to the
laundresses of our army.

With the foregoing conditions, which are hereby
pledged to the Mormons, and which will be faithfully
kept by me and other officers in behalf of the Gov-
ernment of the United States, I cannot doubt but
that you will in a few days be able to raise five
hundred young and efficient men for this expedi-
tion.

Very respectfully your ob't serv't,

(Signed) S. F. Kearney,

Col. of First Dragoons.

Per Capt. James Allen, First Reg. Dragoons, Fort
Leavenworth."

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. .55

It will be remembered that Brigham Young,
while believing the battalion call to be a test of
loyalty, hastened with Heber C. Kimball and Wil-
lard Richards to Mount Pisgah, 130 miles, to exe-
cute the " demand," as they deemed it, for a bat-
talion of their picked men to serve their country.
They immediately sent messengers, with official
despatches from their high councils, to Nauvoo,
Garden Grove and the regions around, calling to
head-quarters their old men and able-bodied boys
to supply the place of their picked men going for
the service of their country.

Returning to Council Bluffs, the Twelve gathered
the "Camp of Israel" to enrol the. companies of
volunteers. While Major Hunt, of the volunteers,
was calling out the first company, Brigham Young
conversed with Col. Kane in Woodruff's carriage
about the affairs of the nation, and told him the
time would come when the Mormons would " have
" to save the Government of the U. S., or it would
" crumble to atoms."

Forty minutes after twelve of the same day, July
15th, the Elders and the people assembled in the
Bowery. President Young then delivered to the
congregation a simple but earnest speech, in which
he told the brethren, with a touch of subdued
pathos, " not to mention families to day ; " that
they had " not time to reason now." " We want,"
he said, " to conform to the requisition made upon
" us, and we will do nothing else till we have ac-
" complished this thing. If we want the privilege
" of going where we can worship God according to
" the dictates of our consciences, we must raise the

y

56 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

" battalion. I say, it is right ; and who cares for
" sacrificing our comfort for a few years ? "

Nobly did the Mormons respond to this call of
their country. The apostles acted as recruiting
sergeants ; nor did they wait for their reinforce-
ments, but moved as though they intended to apply
their leader's closing sentence literally ; he said :
" After we get through talking, we will call out
" the companies ; and if there are not young men
" enough we will take the old men, and if they are
" not enough we will take the women. I want to
" say to every man, the Constitution of the United
" States, as formed by our fathers, was dictated, was
" revealed, was put into their hearts by the Al-
" mighty, who sits enthroned in the midst of -the
" heavens ; although unknown to them, it was dic-
" tated by the revelations of Jesus Christ, and I tell
" you, in the name of Jesus Christ, it is as good as
" ever I could ask for. I say unto you, magnify
" the laws. There is no law in the United States,
" or in the Constitution, but I am ready to make
" honorable"

" There was no sentimental affectation at their
" leave-taking," said Thomas L. Kane, in relating
the story to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
" The afternoon before their march was devoted to
" a farewell ball ; and a more merry dancing rout
" I have never seen, though the company went with-
" out refreshments, and their ball was of the most
" primitive. It was the custom, whenever the larger
" camps rested for a few days together, to make
" great arbors, or boweries, as they called them, of
" poles, and brush, and wattling, as places of shelter

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 57

* for their meetings of devotion or conference. In
" one of these, where the ground had been trodden
" firm and hard by the worshipers, of the popular
14 Father Taylor's precinct, was gathered now the
" mirth and beauty of the Mormon Israel.

* If anything told that the .Mormons had been
" bred to other lives, it was the appearance of the
" women as they assembled here. Before their
" flight they had sold their watches and trinkets as
11 the most available recourse for raising ready
" money ; and hence, like their partners, who wore
" waistcoats cut with useless watch pockets, they,
11 although their ears were pierced and bore the
" marks of rejected pendants, were without earrings,
" chains or brooches. Except such ornaments, how-
" ever, they lacked nothing most becoming the
" attire of decorous maidens. The neatly-darned
11 white stockings, and clean white petticoat, the
" clear-starched collar and chemisette, the some-
" thing faded, only because too-well washed lawn
" or gingham gown, that fitted modishly to the
" waist of its pretty wearer — these, if any of them
" spoke of poverty, spoke of a poverty that had
" known better days.

" With the rest attended the elders of the Church
" within call, including nearly all the chiefs of the
" High Council, with their wives and children.
11 They, the bravest and most trouble-worn, seemed
" the most anxious of any to throw off the burden
" of heavy thoughts. Their leading off the dance
" in a double cotillon was the signal which bade the
" festivity to commence. To the canto of debon-
" nair violins, the cheer of horns, the jingle of sleigh

58 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

" bells, and the jovial snoring of the tambourine,
" they did dance ! None of your minuets or other
" mortuary possessions of gentles in etiquette, tight
" shoes and pinching gloves, but the spirited and
11 scientific displays of our venerated and merry
" grandparents, who were not above following the
" fiddle to the lively fox-chase, french fours, Co-
" penhagen jigs, Virginia reels, and the like for-
" gotten figures, executed with the spirit of people
" too happy to be slow, or bashful, or constrained.
11 Light hearts, lithe figures and light feet had it
" their own way from an early hour till after the sun
" had dipped behind the sharp sky-line of the
" Omaha hills. Silence was then called, and a well-
11 cultivated mezzo-soprano voice, belonging to a
" young lady with fair face and dark eyes, gave with
11 quartette accompaniment, a little song, the notes
" of which I have been unsuccessful in repeated
11 efforts to obtain since — a version of the text
" touching to all earthly wanderers :

" By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept ;
We wept when we remembered Zion:

" There was danger of some expression of feeling
" when the song was over, for it had begun to draw
" tears, but, breaking the quiet with his hard voice,
" an elder asked the blessing of heaven on all who,
" with purity of heart and brotherhood of spirit, had
" mingled in that society, and then all dispersed,
" hastening to cover from the falling dews."

CHAPTER VI.

THE MORMONS SETTLE ON INDIAN LANDS. A GRAND
COUNCIL HELD BETWEEN THE ELDERS AND INDIAN
CHIEFS. A COVENANT IS MADE BETWEEN THEM,
AND LAND GRANTED BY THE INDIANS TO THEIR
MORMON BROTHERS. CHARACTERISTIC SPEECHES
OF FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS. WINTER QUARTERS

ORGANIZED. THE GOVERNMENT AT FIRST CON-
FIRMS THE INDIAN PERMISSION TO THE MORMONS
AND THEN SEEKS TO EJECT THEM. OFFICIAL
CORRESPONDENCE. JUDGE KANE AND HIS SON.

With the departure of the battalion, the flower of
their strength, vanished all expectation of going to
the Rocky Mountains that year, and the elders
immediately set to work to locate and build their
winter quarters. Ever exact to the organic genius
of their community, their first business was to
organize the High Council of a " Traveling Stake
ofZion." This was done at Council Bluffs, July
2 1 st, with Father Morley at the head of an incorpo-
rated council of twelve high priests.

The Indians welcomed their " Mormon brothers"
with a touch of dramatic pathos. " They would
" have been pleased," said Colonel Kane, " with
" any whites who would not cheat them, nor
" sell them whiskey, nor whip them for their

60 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

" poor gipsey habits, nor bear themselves indecently
"toward their women, many of whom among the
" Pottowatomies, especially those of nearly unmixed
" French descent, are singularly comely, and some
" of them educated. But all Indians have some-
" thing like a sentiment of reverence for the insane,
" and admire those who sacrifice, without apparent
" motive, their worldly welfare to the triumph of an
" idea. They understand the meaning of what they
" call a great vow, and think it the duty of the
" right-minded to lighten the votary's penance
" under it. To this feeling they united the sym-
11 pathy of fellow sufferers for those who could talk
" to them of their own Illinois, and tell the story
" how from it they also had been ruthlessly ex-
" pelled.

11 Their hospitality was sincere, almost delicate.
" Fanny Le Clerc, the spoiled child of the great
" brave, Pied Riche, interpreter of the nation, would
" have the pale face, Miss Divine, learn duets with
" her to the guitar ; and the daughter of substantial
" Joseph La Framboise, the interpreter of the
" United States (she died of the fever that Summer)
" welcomed all the nicest young Mormon Kitties
" and Lizzies and Jennies and Susans, to a coffee
" feast at her father's house, which was probably the
" best cabin in the river village. They made the
' Mormons at home there and elsewhere. Upon all
u they formally gave them leave to tarry just so
11 long as it suited their own good pleasure. - M

" The affair, of course, furnished material for a
;< solemn council. Under the auspices of an officer
" of the United States, their chiefs were summoned,

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 6l

" in the form befitting great occasions, to meet in
" the dirty yard of one Mr. P. A. Sarpy's log trading
" house, at their village ; they came in grand toilet,
" moving in their fantastic attire with so much
" aplomb and genteel measure, that the stranger
" found it difficult not to believe them high-born
" gentlemen attending a costumed ball. Their aris-
" tocratically thin legs, of which they displayed fully
" the usual Indian proportion, aided this illusion.
11 There is something, too, at all times very mock-
" Indian in the theatrical French millinery tie of
" the Pottowatomie turban ; while it is next to im-
" possible for a sober white man, at first sight, to
" believe that the red, green, black, blue and yellow
" cosmetics, with which he sees such grave person-
" ages so variously dotted, diapered, cancelled and
" arabesqued, are worn by them in any mood but
"one of the deepest and most desperate quizzing.
" From the time of their first squat upon the
" ground, to the final breaking up of the council
" circle, they sustained their characters with equal
" self-possession and address.

" I will not take it upon myself to describe their
" order of ceremonies ; indeed I ought not, since I
" have never been able to view the habits and
" customs of our aborigines in any other light than
" that of a sorrowful subject at best. Besides, in
" this instance, the displays of pow wow and elo-
11 quence were both probably moderated by the con-
" ducting of the entire transaction on temperance
" principles. I therefore content myself with observ-
" ing, generally, that the proceedings were such as
" every way became the grandeur of the parties in-

62 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

terested, and the magnitude of the interests in-
volved. When the red men had indulged to
satiety in tobacco smoke from their peace pipes,
and in what they love still better their peculiar
metaphoric rodomontade, which beginning with
celestial bodies, and coursing downwards over the
grandest sublunary objects, always managed to
alight at last on their Grand Father Polk, and the
tenderness for him of his affectionate colored chil-
dren ; all the solemn funny fellows present, who
played the part of chiefs, signed formal articles of
convention with their unpronounceable names.

11 The renowned chief, Pied Riche (he was sur-
named Le Clerc on account of his remarkable
scholarship) then rose and said :

" My Mormon Brethren : — The Pottowatomie
came sad and tired into this unhealthy Missouri
bottom, not many years back, when he was taken
from his beautiful country beyond the Mississippi,
which had abundant game and timber, and clear
water everywhere. Now you are driven away the
same from your lodges and lands there, and the
graves of your people. So we have both suffered.
We must keep one another, and the Great Spirit
will keep us both. You are now free to cut and
use all the wood you may wish. You can make
your improvements and live on any part of our
actual land not occupied by us. Because one
suffers and does not deserve it, is no reason he
should suffer always. I say, we may live to see
all right yet. However, if we do not, our children
will. Bon jour!"

And thus ended the pageant This speech was

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 63

recited to Col. Kane after the treaty by the Potto-
watomie orator in French, which language he spoke
with eloquence.

But the Mormons had most to do with the Omaha
Indians, for they located their camps on both the east
and west sides of the Missouri river. Winter quar-
ters proper was on the west side, five miles above
Omaha of to-day. It has since dwindled from a
Mormon city to the present Florence. There, on a
pretty plateau, overlooking the river, they built, in
a few months, more than seven hundred houses,
neatly laid out with highways and byways, and for-
tified with breast-work, stockade and blockhouses.
It had, too, its place of worship, " tabernacle of the
" congregation ; " for in everything they did they
kept up their character of the modern ^Israel. The
industrial character of the people also typed itself
on their city in the wilderness, which sprang up as
by magic, for it could boast of large workshops, and
mills and factories provided with water power.
They styled it a " Stake of Zion." It was the prin-
cipal stake, too, several others, such as Garden
Grove and Mount Pisgah having already been es-
tablished on the route.

The settlement of head-quarters brought the
Mormons into peculiar relationship with the Oma-
has. A grand council was also held between their
chiefs and the Elders. Big Elk made a character-
istic speech for the occasion, yet not so distinguished
in its Indian eloquence as that of Le Clerc. Big
Elk said, in response to President Young :

" My son, thou hast spoken well. I have all thou
" hast said in my heart. I have much I want to

64 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

"say. We are poor. When we go to hunt game
" in one place, we meet an enemy, and so in another
" place our enemies kill us. We do not kill them.
" I hope we will be friends. You may stay on
" these lands two years or more. Our young men
11 may watch your cattle. We would be glad to
11 have you trade with us. We will warn you of
" danger from other Indians."

The council closed with an excellent feeling ; the
pauper Omahas were treated to a feast, very gra-
cious even to the princely appetite of Big Elk ; and
then they returned to their wigwams, satisfied for
the time with the dispensation of the Great Spirit,
who had sent their " Mormon brethren " into their
country to care for and protect them from their
enemies — the warlike Sioux.

The Omahas were ready to solicit as a favor the
residence of white protectors among them. The
Mormons harvested and stored away for them their
crops of maize ; with all their own poverty they
spared them food enough besides, from time to
time, to save them from absolutely starving ; and
their entrenched camp to the north of the Omaha
villages served as a sort of breakwater between
them and the destroying rush of the Sioux.

But the Mormons were as careful in their settle-
ment on the Indian lands as they had been in the
battalion case, to make their conduct irreproachable
in the eyes of the General Government, and to do
nothing, even in their direst necessities, that would
not force the sanction of the nation. They were,
therefore, particular in obtaining covenants from
the Indians and forwarding them to the President

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 65

of the United States. Here is the covenant of the
Omahas :

11 West Side of the Missouri River,

Near Council Bluffs, August 31, 1846.

We, the undersigned chiefs and braves, represen-
tatives of the Omaha nation of Indians, do hereby
grant to the Mormon people the privilege of tarrying
upon our lands for two years or more, or as long as
may suit their convenience, for the purpose of making
the necessary preparations to prosecute their jour-
ney west of the Rocky Mountains, provided that
our great father, the President of the United States,
shall not counsel us to the contrary.

And, we also do grant unto them the privilege
of using all the wood and timber that they shall re-
quire.

And furthermore agree that we will not molest or
take from them their cattle, horses, sheep, or any
other property.

Big Elk, his x mark,

Standing Elk, his x mark,

Little Chief, his x mark."

On this matter Brigham Young wrote to the
President in behalf of his people :

" Near Council Bluffs, Butler's Park,

Omaha Nation, Sept. 7, 1846.
Sir :

Since our communication of the 9th ult. to Your
Excellency, the Omaha Indians have returned from
their Summer hunt, and we have had an interview
in general council with their chiefs and braves, who
expressed a willingness that we should tarry on
their lands, and use what wood and timber would be
necessary for our convenience, while we were pre-

66 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

paring to prosecute our journey, as may be seen
from a duplicate of theirs to us of the 21st of
August, which will be presented by Col. Kane.

In council they were much more specific than in
their writings, and Big Elk, in behalf of his nation,
requested us to lend them teams to draw their corn
at harvest, and help keep it after it was deposited,
to assist them in building houses, making fields,
doing some blacksmithing, &c, and to teach some
of their young men to do the same, and also keep
some goods and trade with them while we tarried
among them.

We responded to all their wishes in the same
spirit of kindness manifested by them, and told
them we would do them all the good we could, with
the same proviso they made, if the President was
willing ; and this is why we write.

Hitherto we have kept aloof from all intercourse
except in councils, as referred to, and giving them a
few beeves when hungry, but we have the means of
doing them a favor by instructing them in agricul-
tural and mechanical arts, if it is desirable.

It might subject us to some inconvenience, in our
impoverished situation, to procure goods for their
accommodation, and yet, if we can do it, w T e might
receive in return as many skins and furs as would
prove a valuable temporary substitute for worn-out
clothing and tents in our camp, which would be no
small blessing.

A small division of our camp is some two or
three hundred miles west of this, on the rush bot-
toms, among the Puncaws, where similar feelings
are manifested towards our people.

Should Your Excellency consider the requests of
the Indians for instruction, &c, reasonable, and sig-
nifying the same to us, we will give them all the
information in mechanism and farming the nature
of the case will admit, which will give us the oppor-
tunity of getting the assistance of their men to help

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 67

us herd and labor, which we have much needed
since the organization of the battalion.

A license, giving us permission to trade with the
Indians while we are tarrying on or passing through
their lands, made out in the name of Newel K.
Whitney, our agent in camp, would be a favor to
our people and our red neighbors. All of which is
submitted to Your Excellency's consideration and
the confidence of Col. Kane.

Done in behalf of the council of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at the time and
place before mentioned,, and Camp of Israel.

Most respectfully,

Brigham Young, Pres't.
Willard Richards, Clerk,

To James K. Polk, Pres't. U. S."

At this time Col. Thomas L. Kane was lying sick
in the " Camp of Israel " at head-quarters. The
ministering hand of the Mormons smoothed his
pillow, and their faith and prayers wooed his spirit
back to new life. Their prophetic assurances that
he had a destiny to fulfill, and that his days should
be lengthened, contrary to all his expectations, must,
in his romantic surroundings, have been singularly
fascinating. He was with a veritable Israel in the
Wilderness — a people fleeing from their Egypt,
with a faith and trust in their God more constant
and exalted than that of the ancient people ; for
there was no murmuring among these, against the
hand that was delivering them ; no rebellion against
their Moses ; no hungering for the fat of the land
of the Gentile that they were leaving hehind. Our
friend was with them on a crowning occasion ; it

68 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ) OR,

gave to him a taste of the spirit of that brother-
and-sisterhood which was bearing them through an
historic drama that rises above even sublimity, and
he himself was a subject of that ministering tender-
ness that took comfort in pouring salvation upon
another's head. He learned more of the Mormons
thus sympathetically, without actual change from his
presbyterian faith, than a quarter of a century's cold
investigation would have given him. And nobly
has their friend paid them back, while every day
has enshrined him deeper in the Mormon's heart,
and rendered his name as sacred as that of a house-
hold deity.

It will be remembered that Col. Kane came
West bearing despatches from the Government to
General Kearney, relative to the call of the Mor-
mon battalion and the expedition to California to
possess that country. His sickness in the Mormon
camp hindered his further journey towards the land
that soon afterwards became the El Dorado of the
nation. As he grew convalescent he became anxious
for his Mormon friends, lest, should a relapse take
him off, they should be charged with his death ; so
he sent to Fort Leavenworth for a physician. Dr.
Edes obeyed the summons, and gave the certificate
to Dr. Richards, the church historian.

What a comment is this suwestive certificate
upon Mormon history ! Imagine the death of the
best and most constant friend charged in the ac-
count of their crimes. Yet is the case of Gunnison
a very similar one. He was murdered by the Mor-
mons, so they say — that Gunnison who almost sang
psalms to the Mormons' praise, and had only Kane

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 69

died at winter quarters twenty-nine years ago, Brig-
ham Young might have stood but yesterday indicted
for his murder in the immaculate court of Judge
McKean.

But their friend was spared, and the mission he
took upon himself in this people's behalf was nobly
forwarded by his honorable father. The letters of
Judge Kane to his son at the time deserve an ever-
lasting record. They are, moreover, important
historical links necessary to harmonize the views
of relations with the Government. Here is the
first :

" Philadelphia, ioth Aug., 1846.

My Dear Son :

Your letter of the 23d of July reached me yester-
day. I have lost no time in making the appeal to
the President for the permission to remain ; and
before the end of this week, my court being about
to adjourn for a fortnight, I shall see him, and take
care that the thing is done. The form, of course,
is immaterial, but in substance all shall be right.

. I am sincerely happy at the prospect there is of
doing good to the sufferers for conscience sake.
You say right, that you have not lived in vain, if
you can guard one individual from outrage, or one
heart from anxiety. It is worth the hazard and the
suffering, for it will make your pillow smoother at
last, even though it be the rough grass of the wild-
erness, without a mothers blessing or the pressure
of a father's hand.

God be with you always to protect and cheer you
my boy, in your pilgrimage of mercy, and bring you
back to us in his own good season to our comfort
and pride.

J. K. Kane."

JO LIFE OF BRIGFIAM YOUNG J OR,

The judge personally laid the matter before the
President, as promised, and then wrote :

Philadelphia, 4th Sept., 1846.
Dear Son :

We have just received your letter of the 19th
August, dated at the camp of the Omaha country.
Thank God it is no worse (referring to his son's
sickness), and that we are to have you back again
among us. All that we have to pray against is a
relapse. We shall look with intense anxiety for
your letter from Nauvoo or Galena; which we ought
to receive in about three weeks. . .

I saw the President last week and talked over
the whole subject. He assured me definitely that
the Mormons shall not be disturbed. To-day I
have received from the War Department a copy of
the instructions of the Indian Bureau to Major
Harvey, and I enclose them to you by the Presi-
dent's request. We are all well. God bless you.

Most affectionately your father and friend,

J. K. Kane.

The instructions were duly sent to the superin-
tendent of Indian affairs at St. Louis.

But Major Harvey strangely interpreted his in-
structions. He visited President Young on the 1st
of November. He had letters from Washington,
he said. The department expected the Mormons
to leave the Indian lands in the Spring. " What
" reason had they for stopping there at all ? "
Harvey wished to know. Brigham Young told him
the reason — the reader can guess it. The soldiers
of the battalion could have answered, also, had they
been present. But President Young informed the

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 7 1

superintendent that the Mormons should not move
from either side of the river till the Spring, and re-'
quested a copy of the instructions from the depart-
ment. A confidential scribe was sent to the sub
agency for it ; he returned with the following :

Council Bluffs, Sub-Agency,
November 5th, 1845.
Sir:

Your communication of the 3d instant was re-
ceived on Saturday. Mr. Clayton is furnished with
the letter of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of
September 3d, for the purpose of copying. My en-
gagements here will not permit me to write you but
a line. I would, however, add that no white per-
sons are permitted to settle on the lands of the
Indians without authority of the government. Your
party being Mormons does not constitute the objec-
tion, but the fact of your being there without the
authority of Government. In the execution of my
duty, I know no sects or parties, and I am sure the
Government at Washington acts upon the same
principle.

I may write you more particularly on my return
to St. Louis, where I shall have all the correspond-
ence on the subject before me.

I have the honor to be,

Your obedient servant,
W. H. Harvey, SupL Ind. Affairs,

This was addressed to the High Council, and that
body, in reply, wrote a very powerful and touching
letter to the superintendent in the name of the
people.

At this juncture, William Kimball arrived with
the mail, bringing the official documents from the

J2 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

department, enclosed to Judge Kane, giving per-
mission to the Mormons to remain, with the follow-
ing also from Colonel Kane to President Young :

" Nauvoo, Illinois, Sept. 2 2d, 1846.
My Dear Friend :

As my mind is confused by the effect of over
exercise this hot day upon my disease-shattered
frame, I forward to you in original, or copy, all the
enclosures which I have received from my father,
that they may tell their own story better than I am
able to do it for them.

I do not, you may believe, deny myself the
pleasure of writing to you at length without reluct-
ance ; but the pain I have at present in my head is
really so acute that you must take my honest wish
to do so for the deed itself.

With regard to the clauses, which for convenience
I have marked with asterisks, in the communication
of Medill to Major Harvey of St. Louis, I need only
observe that the first shows that Captain Allen's
report, which fully narrated your objects and inten-
tion alluded to has, in all probability, never been
dispatched to Washington, inasmuch as the date of
Medill's letter to my father is as late as September
3d ; and the second and third suggest it to me to
remind you that I have with me, in case of personal
accident, documents in ihe nature of vouchers, &c,
not only from Mitchell, the sub-agent in question,
who is pledged to me personally, but from all having
influence or authority in the Upper Missouri country,
which are every way satisfactory to us in their
nature. You see, therefore, that you need appre-
hend no more from any instructions to Harvey or
Mitchell, such as those which I fear alarmed you a
little at the time of my departure.

I am getting to believe more and more every day,

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 73

as my strength returns, that I am spared by God
for the labor of doing you justice ; but if I am
deceived, comfort yourself and your people with the
knowledge that my sickness in your midst has
touched the chords of noble feeling in a brave
heart, and that even if I do not succeed in getting
home in person to secure your rights, my papers
are now so arranged that my father will find it
little more trouble to do you service than yours
sincerely,

Thomas L. Kane.

The answer to this by Willard Richards, the
church historian, will at once be finely descriptive
of the Mormons at winter quarters, and a complete-
ment of the view of their relations with the Govern-
ment and its agents :

Winter Quarters, Camp of Israel,
Omaha Nation, Nov. 15, 1846.

My Dear Colonel :

Although near midnight, cold and wet, and myself
without shelter, except a worn-out, torn-out tent,
weary and sick, I cannot let the moment pass with-
out acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the
2 2d September to General Young, two days since,
enclosed with Judge Kane's two letters to yourself,
also Mr. Medill's to Judge Kane the day following.

The. package was unaccountably delayed, but
better late than never, and it did your friends in
camp good to hear you were so far on your journey,
fully believing that ere this you have landed safe in
the city of brotherly love.

I could not well deny myself copies of your
father's .letters, which I herewith enclose, with thanks
from myself and brethren. These letters breathe
the spirit of a nobleman.

74 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

The communications from the War Office are as
satisfactory as we could reasonably expect, consider-
ing the probable information the Executive was in
possession of at the time, and prove most clearly
that the prompt action of your dear father in the
premises was not misplaced. Israel's God will
reward him and you also, for the eagle eye with
which you have watched for the good of suffering
virtue.

We are never alarmed at any instructions which
have or may be given to agents concerning us, for
our cause is just, and we are detained at this point
by an act of the President, which he intended for
our good, and we have no doubt it will thus prove,
though we have suffered much by the absence of
so many men.

Many of the families in camp are now in small
log or turf houses, just fit to ward off the winters
blast, and many more will be like situated should
the mild weather continue till winter's day.

On the ist inst. Major Harvey, Mitchell and Mil-
ler visited our camp. Their stay was too brief to
call a council ; indeed I know not if any member
knew of their presence until they were absent, ex-
cept General Young, who met them in his yard, or
by the road side ; and Major Harvey stated that he
had communications from Washington, but had for-
got to bring them ; that the United States wanted
the Mormons to remove from Pottowatomie lands
in the Spring ; and he much regretted that we were
not on the opposite side of the river. General
Young wished to know what advantage that would
be if we were to leave^tjiere in the Spring ; but
could get no satisfaction.

The High Council of this place wrote Major
Harvey at the sub-agency, where he was making
payments, requesting a copy of the Washington
documents, which he had proffered to General
Young when opportunity should present.' After a

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 75

day or two's delay, the messenger, or confidential
clerk, succeeded in taking a copy, which proved the
same as the one enclosed by you ; also received a
letter from Major Harvey, stating " that no white
persons are permitted to settle on the lands of the
Indians. Your party being Mormons does not con-
stitute the objection, but the fact of your being
there without the authority of the Government. In
the execution of my duty I know no sects or par-
ties, and I am sure the Government at Washington
acts upon the same principles."

Let the sequel answer !

Did not Major Harvey know that it was an act
of Government that caused us to settle ? If a few
log and mud huts can be called settling ! Or
could he have referred to the few poor who had
stopped on the Pottowatomie lands previous to
raising the battalion, when he had just been urging
us to fall back on to said lands ?

Pay day arrived, and Major Mitchell informed
the chiefs that no Mormons could have any of the
annuities ; for there was one or two half-breeds or
French (I know not which), who had married and
been adopted into the Pottowatomie nation and be-
lieved in Mormonism. The chiefs informed him it
was none of their business to decide who belonged
to their nation and were to receive annuities, and it
was none of his business whether they were Catho-
lics, or Mormons, or Methodists, or anything else
Mitchell has warned one of our brethren off the In-
dian lands, a good man, too, and for no reason that
can be imagined, only he is a Mormon.

Major Harvey, in Indian council, said he did not
approve of our being on this side of the river, and
if he was tall enough he would remove us across
the river. He also promised the Ottoes a farmer.
The Indians immediately pointed out Mr. Case,
who was present, and with whom they had long
been acquainted, as he had been a Government

76 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

farmer to the Ottoes, Pawnees and others for about
twenty years, and wanted him ; but the Major re-
fused, and said he would send whom he pleased.
You will recollect Mr. Case was the Government
farmer at Pawnee, and was baptized while you was
here. Immediately Mr. Miller informed Mr. Case
that Major Harvey instructed him to give him his
discharge, from that day, and he must cross the
river ; that the Major had left no money for his pay
(which was due some time previously), and he did
not know why Major Harvey should discharge him,
only because he was a Mormon. No regard to sects
or parties /

But enough of this for the present to give you a
conjecture how little petty officers are carrying sail
in the West.

I remain, with Presidents Young and Kimball,
and thousands of others,

Your warm friend,

Willard Richards.

CHAPTER VII.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG, UP TO
THE MARTYRDOM OF JOSEPH SMITH. A VIEW OF
THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. FOUND-

ING OF THE BRITISH MISSION. BRIGHAM YOUNG
IN ENGLAND. MARTYRDOM OF THE MORMON

PROPHET.

While the Saints are resting at winter quarters,
we will give to the reader a sketch of the life of
President Young up to the martyrdom of Joseph
Smith. That life is too crowded with great events
thereafter to enable us to touch more than the con-
necting incidents of his earlier career.

Brigham Young was born in Whitingham, Wind-
ham County, Vermont, June ist, 1801.

His parents were devoted to the Methodist reli-
gion, to which, in his maturity, he also inclined.

He was married October 8th, 1824, in Aurelius,
Cayuga County, New York, where for twelve years
he followed the occupations of carpenter, joiner,
painter and glazier. In the Spring of 1829, he re-
moved to Mendon, Monroe County, where his
father resided, and here the next Spring he first saw
the Book of Mormon, which was left with his
brother Phineas Young, by Samuel H. Smith
brother of the Prophet.

j8 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

In January, 1832, in company with Phineas Young
and Heber C. Kimball, he visited a branch of the
Church at Columbia, Pennsylvania, and returned
deeply impressed with the principles of Mormon-
ism. In this state of mind he went to Canada for
his brother Joseph, who was there on a mission,
preaching the Methodist faith. This prompt action,
after he had resolved on his own course, is quite
typical of the man.

Joseph Young "received and rejoiced in the testi-
" mony," and returned home with his brother ; and
both immediately united themselves with the Saints.

Brigham was baptized April 14th, 1832, by Elder
Eleazur Miller, who confirmed him at the water's
edge, and ordained him to the office of an elder that
same night.

About three weeks afterwards his wife was also
baptized, but in the following autumn she died,
leaving him two little children (girls). After her
death he made his home at Heber C. Kimball's.

In the same month, with his brother Joseph and
Heber C. Kimball, he started for Kirtland, to see
the Prophet. Arriving at Kirtland, they found him,
with several of his brothers, in the woods, chopping
and hauling wood. ; >^ Here my joy was full," says
Brigham, " at the privilege of shaking the hand
" of the Prophet of God, and receiving the sure
" testimony by the spirit of prophesy that he was
" all that any man could believe him to be, as a true
" prophet. He was happy to see us, and bid us
" welcome. In the evening a few of the brethren
" came in, and we conversed together upon the
11 things of the kingdom. He called upon me to

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 79.

" pray. In my prayer I spoke in tongues. As soon
" as we arose from our knees, the brethren nocked
il around him, and asked his opinion concerning the
" gift of tongues that was upon me! He told them
u it was the pure Adamic language. Some said to
" him they expected he would condemn the gift, but
" he said ' no, it is of God ; and the time will come
" when Brother Brigham Young will preside over
" this Church.' The latter part of this conversation
" was in my absence.' 1 ^

After staying about a week in Kirtland they re-
turned home, and then, with his brother Joseph, he
started on a mission to Upper Canada, on foot, in
the month of December, and returned home in
February, 1833, before the ice broke up.

For a little while he made his home at Heber C.
Kimball's, preaching in the neighborhood, but on the
first of April he started on foot for Canada again,
where he raised up branches of the Church. He
then " gathered up " several families, and started
with them to Kirtland about the first of July, where
he tarried awhile " enjoying the society of the
" Prophet," and then returned to Mendon.

Taking his two children, in the month of Septem-
ber, he " gathered " to Kirtland with Heber C. Kim-
ball. Here he commenced working at his former
trade.

When the elders " went up to redeem Zion," in
Jackson County, a missionary expedition famous in
Mormon history, the Prophet was particularly anxi-
ous that Brigham should go with him. Meeting the
Prophet one day, in company with Joseph Young,
Brigham told him that his brother was doubtful as

80 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

to his duty about going, to which the Prophet re-
plied, " Brother Brigham and Brother Joseph, if you
" will go with me in the camp to Missouri, and keep
" my counsel, I promise you, in the name of the
11 Almighty, that I will lead you there and back
" again, and not a hair of your heads shall be
" harmed ; " at which each presented his hand to
the Prophet and the covenant was confirmed.

The organization of " Zion's Camp " being com-
pleted, they started for Missouri, where they arrived
at Rush Creek, Clary County, on the 23d of June,
when the camp was struck with the plague. Here
they remained one week, attending to the sick and
burying their dead. About seventy of the brethren
were attacked with the cholera, of whom eighteen
died.

The Prophet assembled the " Camp of Zion," and
told the brethren that " if they would humble
themselves before the Lord, and covenant that they
would, from that time forth, obey his counsel, the
plague should be stayed from that very hour ; "
whereupon the brethren, with uplifted hands, cove-
nanted, " and the plague was stayed according to
•' the words of the Lord through his servant."

The journey to Missouri and back was performed
in a little over three months, being a distance of
about 2,000 miles, averaging forty miles per day, on
foot, while traveling. On the return the brethren
were scattered. Brigham and his brother Joseph
arrived home safe, July 4, fulfilling the covenant
made with them. He tarried in Kirtland during
that Fall and Winter, quarrying rock, working on
the Temple, ,and finishing the printing-office and
schoolroom.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 8l

On the 14th of February, 1835, the Prophet
called a council of Elders, at which the quorum of
the Twelve Apostles were selected in the following-
order :

Lyman E. Johnson, Brigham Young, Heber C.
Kimball, Orson Hyde, Luke Johnson, David W.
Patten, William E. M'Lellin, John F. Boyington,
William Smith, Orson Pratt, Thomas B. Marsh and
Parley S. Pratt.

In May, Brigham Young was called to go and
preach to the Indians. " This," said the Prophet,
"will open the doors to all the seed of Joseph."
He started on his mission in company with the
Twelve, returning to Kirtland in September, where
he spent the Fall and Winter preaching, attending
a Hebrew school and superintending the painting
and finishing of the Temple.

In March, 1836, the Temple, being nearly finished,
was dedicated. " It was a day of God's power,"
says the record ; " the glory of the Lord filled the
house." It is known in the church as the Latter-
day Pentacost, on which the Elders were specially
" endowed with power from on high." The Twelve
held the " solemn assembly," and received their
" washings and annointings." The " washing of feet "
was administered to Brigham by Joseph himself.

Soon after this, in company with his brother
Joseph Young, he started on a mission to the Eastern
States, traveling through New York, Vermont and
Massachusetts. In the Fall and Winter of 1836,
he was at home again with the Prophet, sustaining
him through the darkest hour which the Church has
yet seen.

32 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

It was at this time that a " spirit of apostacy "
manifested itself among the Twelve, and ran
through all the quorums of the church. It prevailed
so extensively that it was difficult for many to see
clearly the path to pursue.

On one occasion several of the Twelve, the " wit-
nesses " to the Book of Mormon, and others of the
authorities of the church, held a council in the
upper room of the Temple. The question before
them was to ascertain how the Prophet could be
deposed, and David Whitmer, who was one of the
*" witnesses," appointed President of the Church.
" I rose up," says President Young, " and told
them in a plain and forcible manner that Joseph
was a prophet, and I knew it ; and that they might
rail at and slander him as much as they pleased,
they could not destroy the appointment of the
Prophet of God ; they could only destroy their
own authority, cut the thread which bound them
to the Prophet and to God, and sink themselves
to hell. Many were highly enraged at my decided
opposition to their measures, and Jacob Bump (an
old pugilist), was so exasperated that he could not
be still. Some of the brethren near him put their
hands on him and requested him to be quiet ; but
he writhed and twisted his arms and body, saying,
' how can I keep my hands off that man ? ' I told
him if he thought it would give him any relief he
. might lay them on. The meeting was broken up
without the Apostates being able to unite on any
decided measures of opposition. This was a crisis
when earth and hell seemed leagued to overthrow
the. Prophet and Church of God. The knees of

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 83

" many of the strongest men in the church fal-
" tered.

11 During this siege of darkness I stood close by
" Joseph, and with all the wisdom and power God
" bestowed upon me, put forth my utmost energies
" to sustain the servant of God, and unite the quo-
" rums of the church.

" Ascertaining that a plot was laid to way-lay
" Joseph for the purpose of taking his life, on his
" return from Monroe, Michigan, to Kirtland, I pro-
" cured a horse and buggy, and took brother Wil-
" Ham Smith along to meet Joseph, whom we met
" returning in the stage coach. Joseph requested
" William to take his seat in the stage, and he
" rode with me in the buggy. We arrived in Kirt-
" land in safety."

The strength of Brigham Young's character
broke the tide of apostacy arising among the very
leaders of the church. There were in it no less
than four of the Twelve Apostles, several of the
" witnesses of the Book of Mormon," and many
influential elders. To this day it has been a won-
der among " gentile " writers that the Prophet dared
to excommunicate so many of his first elders at
one grand sweep. It means that Joseph and Brig-
ham, " with the Lord on their side," were equal to
anything. The part that Brigham Young acted
then made him the successor of Joseph Smith.

About this time Brigham's cousins, Levi and
Willard Richards, arrived in Kirtland. Willard,
having read the Book of Mormon, came to enquire
further concerning the book. His cousin invited
him to make his home at his house during his in-

84 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

vestigation, which he did, and was baptized on the
last day of the year 1836, in the presence of Heber
C. Kimball and others, who had spent the afternoon
cutting the ice to prepare for the ceremony. Wil-
lard Richards became one of the greatest men of
the church.

On the first of June, 1837, Brighams birthday,
there were a few missionaries appointed to Eng-
land, under the direction of Heber C. Kimball and
Orson Hyde of the Twelve. Heber was very
anxious that President Young should also go, but
Joseph said he should keep Brigham at home with
him. This was a sacrifice to the man who had so
well earned the right " to unlock the dispensation "
to foreign nations ; but the moment was too critical
for him to be spared. Before the mission to Eng-
land started, Willard Richards was added to the
number appointed. It is scarcely necessary to say
that the opening of the mission to Great Britain
has proved to be one of the most important events
in the history of the Mormon church.

The policy of keeping Brigham home was soon ap-
parent. " On the morning of December 22d," he
says, " I left Kirtland in consequence of the fury of
" the mob, and the spirit that prevailed in the apos-
" tates, who threatened to destroy me because I
" would proclaim, publicly and privately, that I
" knew, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that
" Joseph Smith was a prophet of the Most High
" God, and had not transgressed and fallen as apos-
" tates declared."

The Prophet and Sidney Rigdon also fled and
joined Brigham at Dublin, Indiana, where Joseph

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 85

made enquiry concerning a job at cutting and saw-
ing wood, after which he came and said : " Brother
" Brigham, I am destitute of means to pursue my
" journey, and as you are one of the Twelve Apos-
" ties, who hold the keys of the kingdom in all the
" world, I believe I shall throw myself upon you,
" and look to you for counsel in this case."

" At first," says Brigham, " I could hardly believe
" Joseph was in earnest, but on his assuring me he
" was, I said, ' If you will take my counsel, it will be
" ' that you rest yourself, and be assured, Brother
" ' Joseph, you shall have plenty of money to pursue
" ' your journey.' "

A providential sale of a tavern, owned by a
Brother Tomlinson, brought the Prophet a gift of
three hundred dollars, and he proceeded on his

journey.^x

After a variety of incidents, Joseph and Brigham
found themselves together,in the Far West, but the
Missourians soon commenced again to stir up the
mob spirit, riding from neighborhood to neighbor-
hood, making naming speeches, priests taking lead
in the crusade. This brought the exterminating
army of Governor Boggs, under Generals Lucas
and Clark, to drive the Mormons en masse out of
Missouri.

Some of the mob were painted like Indians.
Gillum, their leader, was painted in a similar manner.
He styled himself the " Delaware chief." Afterwards
he, and the rest of the mob, claimed and obtained
pay, as militia, from the State.

Many of the Mormons were wounded and mur-
dered by the army, and several women were ravished

86 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

to death. " I saw," says Brigham, " Brother Joseph
" Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, Lyman
" Wight and George W. Robinson delivered up by
" Colonel Hinkle to General Lucas, but expected
" they would have returned to the city that evening
" or the next morning, according to agreement, and
" the pledge of the sacred honor of the officers that
" they should be allowed to do so, but they did not
" so return. The next morning General Lucas de-
" manded and took away the arms of the militia of
" Caldwell County (Brigham refused to give up his
" arms), assuring them that they should be pro-
" tected ; but as soon as they obtained possession
" of the arms, they commenced their ravages by
" plundering the citizens of their bedding, clothing,
" money, wearing apparel, and every thing of value
" they could lay their hands upon, and also attempted
" to violate the chastity of the women in the pres-
" ence of their husbands and friends. The soldiers
" shot down our oxen, cows, hogs and fowls at our
" own doors, taking part away and leaving the rest
" to rot in the street. They also turned their horses
" into our fields of corn."

At this time General Clark delivered his noted
speech. He said :

" Gentlemen : You whose names are not attached
" to this list of names, will now have the privilege
" of going to your fields and of providing corn,,
" wood, &c, for your families. Those that are now
" taken will go from this to prison, be tried, and re--
" ceive the due demerit of their crimes ; but you
" except such as charges may hereafter be preferred
" against, are at liberty, as soon as the troops are

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 8/

" removed that now guard the place, which I shall
" cause to be done immediately.

" It now devolves upon you to fulfill the treaty
" that you have entered into, the leading items of
" which I shall now lay before you. The first re-
" quires that your leading men be given up to be
" tried according to law ; this you have complied
" with. The second is, that you deliver up your
" arms ; this has also been attended to. The third
" is, that you sign over your properties to defray the
" expense that has been incurred on your account ;
" this you have also done. Another article remains
" for you to comply with, and that is that you leave
" the State forthwith. And whatever may be your
" feelings concerning this, or whatever your inno-
" cence is, it is nothing to me. General Lucas,
" whose military rank is equal with mine, has made
" this treaty with you ; I approve of it. I should
" have done the same had I been here, and am,
" therefore, determined to see it executed.

" The character of this State has suffered almost
" beyond redemption, from the character, conduct
" and influence you have exerted ; and we deem it
" an act of justice to restore her character by every
" proper means.

" The order of the Governor to me was, that you
" should be exterminated, and not allowed to re-
" main in the State. And had not your leaders.
" been given up, and the terms of the treaty com-
" plied with, before this time your families would
" have been destroyed and your houses in ashes.

" There is a discretionary power vested in my
" hands, which, considering your circumstances, I

88 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

" shall exercise for a season. You are indebted to
" me for this clemency. I do not say that you shall
" go now, but you must not think of staying here
" another season, or of putting in crops ; for the
".moment you do this the citizens will be upon you,
" and if I am called here again in case of your non-
" compliance with the treaty made, do not think
"that I shall act as I have done now. You need
" not expect any mercy, but extermination, for I am
" determined that the Governor's order shall be
" executed.

"As for your leaders, do not think, do not
" imagine for a moment, do not let it enter into
" your minds that they will be delivered and re-
" stored to you again, for their fate is fixed, the die
"is cast, their doom is sealed.

" I am sorry, gentlemen, to see so many appar-
" ently intelligent men found in the situation that
" you are ; and oh ! if I could but invoke that great
" spirit of the unknown God to rest upon and de-
«' liver you from that awful chain of superstition,
" and liberate you from those fetters of fanaticism
" with which you are bound — that you might no
11 longer do homage to man !

" I would advise you to scatter abroad, and never
" again organize yourselves with bishops, priests,
" &c, lest you excite the jealousies of the people
" and subject yourselves to the same calamities that
" have now come upon you.

" You have .. always been the aggressors. You
" have brought upon yourselves these difficulties, by
" being disaffected, and not being subject to rule.
" And my advice is, that you become as other citi-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 89

" zens,. lest by a recurrence of these events, you
" bring upon yourselves inevitable ruin."

" I was present," says Brigham, " when that speech
" was delivered, and when fifty-seven of our breth-
" ren were betrayed into the hands of our enemies
11 as prisoners.

" General Clark said that we must not be seen as
" many as five together ; ' if you are/ said he, ' the
" ' citizens will be upon you and destroy you ; but
" ' you should flee immediately out of the State.
" ' There is no alternative for you but to flee ; you
11 ' need not expect any redress ; there is none for
" ' you/ "

" With respect to the treaty mentioned by Gen.
" Clark, I have to say that there never was any
" treaty proposed or entered into on the part of the
" Mormons, or any one called a Mormon, except by
" Col. Pinkie. And with respect to the trial of
" Joseph and the brethren at Richmond, I did not
11 consider that tribunal a legal court but an inquisi-
" tion. The brethren were compelled to give

" away their property at the point of the bayonet.

"In February, 1839, I l eu: Missouri with my
" family, leaving my landed property and also my
" household goods, and went to Illinois, to a little
a town called Atlas, Pike County, where I tarried a
" few weeks ; then moved to Ouincy.

" I held a meeting with the brethren of the
" Twelve and the members of the Church in Quincy,
" on the 17th of March, when a letter was read to
" the people from the committee, on behalf of the
" Saints at Far West, who were left destitute of the
11 means to move. Though the brethren were pooi

90 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

" and stripped of almost everything, yet they mani-
" fested a spirit of willingness to do to their utmost
" Offering, to sell their hats, coats and shoes to
" accomplish the object. We broke bread and par-
" took of the sacrament. At the close of the meet-
" ing $50 was collected in money, and several teams
" were subscribed to go and bring the brethren.
" Among the subscribers was the widow of Warren
" Smith, whose husband and two sons had their
" brains blown out at the massacre at Haun's Mill.
" She sent her only team on this charitable mis-
" sion."

It was Brigham Young who superintended the
removal and settling of the Mormons in Illinois, for
the Prophet was now in prison with Parley P. Pratt
and others.

A revelation had been given the previous year,
July 8th, 1836, in answer to a petition: "Show us
" thy will O Lord, concerning the Twelve." The
answer came thus :

" Verily thus saith the Lord, let a conference be
" held immediately. Let the Twelve be organized,
" and let men be appointed to supply the places of
" those who are fallen. Let my servant Thomas
" remain for a season in the land of Zion to publish
" my word. Let the residue continue to preach
" from that hour, and if they will do this in all lowli-
" ness of heart, in meekness and humility, and long-
" suffering, I, the Lord, give unto them a promise
" that I will provide for their families, and an
" effectual door shall be open for them from hence-
*' forth ; and next Spring let them depart to go over
" the great waters, and there promulgate my gospel,

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS.

9*

11 the fulness thereof, and bear record of my name.
" Let them take leave of my Saints in the city of
" Far West, on the 26th day of April next, on the
fl building spot of my house, saith the Lord.

" Let my servant, John Taylor, and also my serv-
11 ant, John E. Page, and also my servant, Wilford
" Woodruff, and also my servant, Willard Richards,
" be appointed to fill the place of those who have
" fallen, and be officially notified of their appoint-
" ment."

But the Saints were now in banishment, and the
Twelve could only return to Far West at the immi-
nent risk of their lives. Many of the authorities of
the Church urged that the Lord would not require
the Twelve to fulfill this revelation to the letter,
but would take the will for the deed. " But I felt
" differently," says Brigham, and " so did those of the
" quorum who were with me. I asked them, indi-
" vidually, what their* feelings were upon the sub-
" ject. They all expressed their desire to fulfill
" the revelation. I told them the Lord had spoken
11 and it was our duty to obey, and leave the event
" in his hands, and he would protect us."

There was a world of wisdom in this decision.
The revelation was a special one concerning the
Twelve Apostles themselves, and the success of
their mission " across the great waters." Brigham
was the master spirit of the Twelve. It would not
do for that revelation to fail, now the Church was
resting on the shoulders of the Twelve ; and Brig-
ham Young was not the man to let it fail !

The Twelve started. Far West was reached in
safety. They hid themselves in a grove. The mob

92 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

came into Far West to tantalize the committee,
boasting that this was one of Joe Smith's revelations
which could not be fulfilled, and threatened the
committee themselves if they were found in Far
West the next day.

Early on the morning of the elect day, April
26th, the Twelve held their conference, " cut off" 31
persons from the church, and proceeded to the
building spot of the " Lord's House," where Elder
Cutter, the master workman of the house, recom-
menced laying the foundation by rolling up a large
stone near the south-east corner. There were pres-
ent of the Twelve, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kim-
ball, Orson Pratt, John E. Page, and John Taylor,
who proceeded to ordain Wilford Woodruff and
George A. Smith to the office of the Twelve, in
place of those who had fallen. The quorum then
offered up vocal prayer, each in their order, begin-
ning with President Young, after which they sang
" Adam-on-di-ahman," and took leave of the Saints
according to the revelation.

" Thus," says the President, " was this revelation
" fulfilled, concerning which our enemies said, if all
11 the other revelations of Joseph Smith came to
" pass, that one should not be fulfilled, as it had
" date and place to it."

After being in prison in Missouri about six
months, the Prophet, with Parley P. Pratt and
others, made their escape.

" It was one of the most joyful scenes of my life,"
says Brigham, " to once more strike hands with the
" Prophet, and behold him and his companions free
" from the hands of their enemies ; Joseph con-

UTAH -AND HER FOUNDERS. 93

" versed with us like a man who had just escaped
" from a thousand oppressions, and was now free in
" the midst of his children."

The Prophet was highly pleased with Brigham
and the Twelve for what they had done ; and at
a conference which he immediately held at Quincy,
resolutions were passed expressing the approval of
the whole church.

Joseph and the Twelve next founded Nauvoo, at
a place then called Commerce, in Hancock County,
Illinois, and soon again the Mormons gathered to-
gether as a people,

But the unhealthy labor of breaking new land on
the banks of the Mississippi, for the founding of
their city, invited pestilence. Nearly every one
" was down " with fever and ague. The Prophet
had the sick borne into his house and door-yard,
until his place was like a hospital. At length, even
he succumbed to the deadly contagion, and for sev-
eral days was as helpless as his disciples. He was a
man of mighty faith, however, and " the spirit came
" upon him to arise and stay the pestilence."

"Joseph arose from his bed," narrated the Presi-
dent, " and the power of God rested upon him. He
" commenced in his own house and door-yard, com-
" manding the sick in the name of Jesus Christ to
" arise and be made whole ; and they were healed
." according to his word. He then continued to
" travel from house to house, and from tent to tent,
" upon the bank of the river, healing the sick as he
" went, until he arrived at the upper stone house,
" where he crossed the river in a boat, accompanied
" by several of the quorum of the Twelve, and landed

94 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

in Montrose. He walked into the cabin where I
was lying sick, and commanded me, in the name
of Jesus Christ, to arise and be made whole. I
arose and was healed, and followed him and the
brethren of the Twelve into the house of Elijah
Fordham, who was supposed, by his family and
friends to be dying, Joseph stepped to his bed-
side, took him by the hand and commanded him,
in the name of Jesus Christ, to arise from his bed
and be made whole. His voice was as the voice
of God. Brother Fordham instantly leaped from
his bed, called for his clothing and followed us
into the street. We then went into the house of
Joseph S. Nobles, who lay very sick, and he was
healed in the same manner ! And when, by the
power of God granted unto him, Joseph had healed
all the sick, he recrossed the river, and returned
to his home This was a day never to be forgot-
ten."

While yet emaciated from their recent sickness,
the Twelve started on their mission to England.

President Young started from his home in Mont-
rose on the 14th of September, 1839. Being still
feeble, he was carried to the house of Heber C.
Kimball, where he remained till the 18th. Kimball
was in a similar condition ; but these two chief
apostles, nevertheless, resolutely set out for Eng-
land, visiting Kirtland by the way.

On the 19th of March, 1840, Brigham Young,
Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith, Parley P. Pratt,
Orson Pratt and Reuben Hedlock, sailed from New
York on board the Patrick Henry, a packet of
the Black Ball line. A large number of the Saints

UTAH AND HER POUNDERS. 95

came down to the wharf to bid them farewell.
When the elders got into the small boat to go out
to the ship, the Saints on shore sang " The gallant
" ship is under way," in which song the elders
joined until the voices were separated by the dis-
tance.

Liverpool was reached by these apostles on the
6th of April. It was the anniversary of the organ-
ization of the church, just ten years before. Brig-
ham left the ship in a boat, with Heber C. Kimball
and Parley P. Pratt, and when he landed he gave a
loud shout of Hosanna! They procured a room
at No. 8 Union Street, and here they partook of the
sacrament, and returned thanks to God for his pro-
tecting care while on the waters, and prayed that
their way might be opened to the successful accom-
plishment of their mission.

Next day they found Elder Taylor and John
Moon, with about thirty Saints who had just re-
ceived the work in that place. On the following
day they went to Preston by railroad (which was
built just at the period that the Mormon mission
was introduced to that country).

In Preston, the cradle of the British mission,
the apostles were met by a multitude of Saints,
who rejoiced exceedingly at the great event of the
arrival of the Twelve in that land.

Willard Richards immediately hastened to Pres-
ton and gave an account of the churches in the
British Isles, over which he had been presiding
during the interval from the return of Heber C.
Kimball and Orson Hyde to America. The Presi-
dent of the Twelve was so emaciated from his long

g6 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

journey and sickness, that Willard did not at first
recognize him ; yet he at once commenced to grap-
ple with the work in foreign lands, convened a con-
ference, and wrote to Woodruff to attend.

Apostles Woodruff and Taylor had arrived in
England on the first of the year, since which time
Taylor had founded a church in Liverpool ; and
Woodruff, in Herefordshire, had built-up a confer-
ence, consisting of many branches, numbering nearly
a thousand souls. The President, therefore, had
come at the very moment when he was most needed
to give organic form to that great mission, out of
which Utah itself has largely grown.

It was on the 14th of April, 1840, that the first
council of the Twelve Apostles, in a foreign land,
was held at Preston. There were present, Brigham
Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson
Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and George
A. Smith. These proceeded to ordain Willard
Richards to their quorum, and then Brigham was
chosen, by a unanimous vote, the standing Presi-
dent of the Twelve,

Then followed, during the next two days, " a
". general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ
" of Latter-day Saints," held in the Temperance
Hall, Preston, with Heber C. Kimball presiding and
William Clayton clerk. There were represented at
that time '1,671 members, 34 elders, 52 priests, 38
teachers, and 8 deacons.

During this conference the Apostles resolved to
publish a monthly periodical — The Millennial Star —
to be edited by Parley P. Pratt, assisted by Brigham
Young, and to compile a new Hymn Book. Brig-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 97

ham Young, Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor were
appointed a committee to select the hymns suitable
for the service of the Saints ; and Brigham Young,
Heber C. Kimball and Parley P. Pratt, a committee
for the publication of the Book of Mormon. Upon
this Brigham wrote the following characteristic
letter to the Prophet :

" To President Joseph Smith and Councilors :

Dear Brethren : You no doubt will have the
perusal of this letter and minutes of our conferences ;
they will give you an idea of what we are doing in
this country.

If you see anything in or about the whole affair
that is not right, I ask, in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that you would make known unto us
the mind of the Lord and his will concerning us.

I believe that I am as willing to do the will of the
Lord, and take counsel of my brethren, and be a
servant of the Church, as ever I was in my life ; but
I can tell you, I would like to be with my old
friends ; I like my new ones, but I cannot part with
my old ones for them.

Concerning the Hymn Book : when we arrived
here, we found the brethren had laid by their old
hymn books, and they wanted new ones ; for the
Bible, religion and all, is new to them. * * *

I trust that I will remain your friend through life
and in eternity.

As ever,

Brigham Young."

; From the conference the President accompanied
Willard Woodruff into Herefordshire, which was
the most important field of labor in the British
mission. Here he obtained most of the money for

98 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

the publication of the Book of Mormon and the
Hymn Book ; Brother John Benbow furnishing 250
pounds and Brother Kington 100 pounds sterling.

On the 1 6th of June, President Young sent off
the first company of the Saints, numbering 41 souls,
in the ship North America. They were bound for
the " Land of Zion." He then, with his quorum,
held the second general conference, July 1st. in
Manchester, at which were represented 41 branches,
2,513 members, 56 elders, 126 priests, 61 teachers,
and 13 deacons, being an increase in three months
of 842 members, 22 elders, 74 priests, 23 teachers
and 5 deacons. At this conference twenty of the
native elders volunteered to devote themselves ex-
clusively to the ministry.

Soon after this conference, Parley P. Pratt, leav-
ing for America to bring his family to England,
Brigham took more immediate charge of The Mil-
lennial Star, assisted by Willard Richards.

In September he organized the second company
of emigrants — 200 souls — on board the North
America, which sailed on the 8th.

Ori^the 6th of October the third general confer-
ence Was held at Manchester, at which 3,626 mem-
bers were represented, with 81 elders, 222 priests, 74
teachers, and 26 deacons, showing an increase in
the three months of 1,113 members, 25 elders, 96
priests> 15 teachers, and 13 deacons.

By this time the work had penetrated into Wales
and Scotland ; yet with great difficulty into the lat-
ter country.

The work in London was also opened about this
time by Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith, and

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 99

Wilford Woodruff; and, notwithstanding that it
afterwards became the stronghold of Mormonism in
England, the elders found the metropolis hard to
penetrate.

While he was in England, President Young visit-
ed London several times. On one occasion, as he
passed the chapel in which John Wesley preached,
he paused and respectfully uncovered his head. It
was the instinctive reverence of one great man paid
to another.

On the 20th of April, 1841, Brigham Young, He-
ber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff,
John Taylor, George A. Smith, and Willard Rich-
ards, with a company of 130 Saints, went on board
the ship Rochester, bound for New York. The
following passage from the President s journal will
give a view of what was done by the Twelve during
the mission to England :

" It was with a heart full of thanksgiving and
" gratitude to God, my heavenly father, that I re-
" fleeted upon his dealings with me and my breth-
" ren of the Twelve during the past year of my life
" which was spent in England. It truly seems a
" miracle to look upon the contrast between our
11 landing and departing from Liverpool. We land-
" ed in the Spring of 1840, as strangers in a strange
".land, and penniless, but through the mercy of God
" we have gained many friends, established churches
" in almost every noted town and city of Great
" Britain, baptized between seven and eight thou-
" sand souls, printed 5,000 Books of Mormon, 3,000
11 hymn books, . 2,500 volumes of The Millennial
" Star, and 50,000 tracts ; emigrated to Zion 1,000

IOO LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

*' souls, establishing a permanent shipping agency,
" which will be a great blessing to the Saints, and
u have left sown in the hearts of many thousands
" the seed of eternal life, which shall bring forth
" fruit to the honor and glory of God ; and
" yet we have lacked nothing to eat, drink or
" wear ; in all these things I acknowledge the hand
<' of God."

A multitude of the Saints stood on the dock to
see these successful apostles start for their native
land, among whom was P. P. Pratt, who was left in
charge of the British mission, and Apostle Orson
Hyde, bound on a mission to Jerusalem.

On the i st of July President Young, with Heber
C. Kimball and John Taylor, arrived in Nauvoo.
They were cordially welcomed by the Prophet,
who several days after received the following revela-
tion :

" Dear and well beloved brother Brigham Young,
" verily thus saith the Lord unt6 you, my servant
* l Brigham, it is no more required at your hand to
•" leave your family as in times past, for your offer-
" ing is acceptable to me ; I have seen your labor
" and toil in journeying for my name. I, therefore,
* command you to send my word abroad, and take
" special care of your family from this time, hence-
" forth and for ever, amen."

The Prophet also wrote in his history concerning
the' Twelve :

" All the quorum of the Twelve Apostles who
" were expected here this season, with the exception
" of Willard Richards and Wilford Woodruff, have
u arrived. We have listened to the accounts which

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. IOI

11 they give of their success, and the prosperity of
" the work of the Lord in Great Britain, with plea-
" sure.

" They certainly have been instruments in the
" hands of God of accomplishing much, and must
" have the satisfaction of knowing that they have
" done their duty. Perhaps no men ever undertook
" such an important mission under such peculiarly
11 distressing, forbidding and unpropitious circum-
" stances. Most of them, when they left this place,
11 nearly two years ago, were worn down with sick-
" ness and disease, or were taken sick on the road.
" Several of their families were also afflicted, and
" needed their aid and support. But knowing that
11 they had been called by the God of heaven to
" preach the gospel to other nations, they conferred
" not with flesh and blood, but, obedient to the
" heavenly mandate, without purse or scrip, com-
" menced a journey of five thousand miles entirely
" dependent on the providence of that God who
" had called them to such a holy calling.

" While journeying to the sea board, they were
" brought into many trying circumstances ; after a
u short recovery from severe sickness, they would
a be taken with a relapse, and have to stop among
" strangers, without money and without friends.
" Their lives were several times despaired of, and
" they have taken each other by the hand, expecting
" it was the last time they should behold one an-
" other in the flesh.

" Notwithstanding their afflictions and trials, the
" Lord always interposed in their behalf, and did
" not suffer them to sink into the arms of death.

102 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

" Some way or other was made for their escape ;
" friends rose up when they most needed them, and
" relieved their necessities, and thus they were eh-
" abled to pursue their journey and rejoice in the
" holy one of Israel. They truly went forth weep-
" ing, bearing precious seed, but have returned re-
" joicing, bearing their sheaves with them."

The Prophet had now nearly reached the zenith
of his power. His marvellous career was drawing
to a close. But he had lived long enough to see his
mission planted firmly in the United States and
Europe. He had seen, too, the very man rise by
his side who, perhaps, above all men in the world,
was the one most fitted in every respect to succeed
him and carry the new dispensation to a successful
issue. Every move which Joseph made from that
moment to his death manifested his instinctive ap-
preciation of that fact. At the next conference
the Prophet called upon the Twelve to stand in
their place and " bear off the Kingdom of God "
victorious among all nations. From that time, too,
the burden of his sayings was that he was " rolling
" off the kingdom from his own shoulders on to the
41 shoulders of the Twelve." The mantle of Joseph
was falling upon Brigham. He lived barely long
enough to make this appreciated, and to prepare
the church for his martyrdom. A thousand times
did the Prophet foreshadow his death. Every day
he told his people in some form of the coming
event. They blinded their understanding ; yet, to-
day they remember but too well the prophetic sig-
nificance which indicated the close of his mortal
career. If any man could have averted the stroke

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. IO3

of fate, that man was Brigham Young. Had he
been in Nauvoo he would have probably prevented
the martyrdom. But strange to say, in spite of the
foregoing revelation, and Joseph's evident feeling of
safety with Brigham by his side, he sent him
again on mission, during which period the tragedy
occurred.

But during the last two years preceding his mar-
tyrdom, the star of the Prophet burst forth in its full
brilliancy. Nauvoo rose as a beautiful monument
of a new dispensation. The city numbered twenty
thousand souls. In its legion were mustered several
thousand militia soldiers. They were the flower of
Israel, and in the prime of manhood. Joseph was
their lieut.-general. With the thousands that were
now expected to flock to Zion from the British mis-
sion, had his triumphant career continued, a hun-
dred thousand of his disciples would, in a few years,
have been gathered to Illinois and adjacent States.
Their united votes would have controlled those
States. Success would have multiplied the oppor-
tunities for success. Long ere this, following up
such a prospect, the Prophet would have held half
a million votes at his command among his disciples.
Even some of his wisest elders were carried away
by this view, while brilliant politicians and aspiring
spirits outside the church pointed the Prophet out
to the nation as the " coming man," and sought to
unite their destiny with his. In short, Joseph
Smith became a candidate for the Presidency of
the United States. The first contest would of
course have been lost ; the second and the third
perhaps lost also ; but ere this the Mormon elders

104 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

would have swept over the States in a political mis-
sion like an avalanche down the mountain.

There was one man, whose clear strong judgment
was not glamoured by this delusive view. - It is
scarcely necessary to say that that man was Brigr
ham Young. His genius would have led him just
where his destiny has led him — namely, to the
Rocky Mountains. In the very certainty that the
Mormons, by their united vote, would soon rule the
elections in several States consisted the Prophet's
greatest danger. This people never have been
guilty of crimes, but they have been guilty of
unity, and have been damned by the prospect of a
great destiny.

The only course that could have saved the Pro-
phet, would have been an earlier removal to the
Rocky Mountains. An expedition to explore this
country had not only been planned, but was in pro-
cess of organization, when the electioneering cam-
paign, for Joseph Smith as President of the United
States, came uppermost, and absorbed every other
interest.

Events have since proved that had Joseph led a
band of pioneers in the Spring of 1844 :o the Rocky
Mountains, Brigham was quite equal to master an
exodus and remove the entire Church. When the
mob force threatened Nauvoo, and the Governor,
with an army, prepared to march against the de-
voted city, under the excuse of forestalling civil
war, making the demand on the person of the Pro-
phet for high treason, Joseph essayed to flee to the '
mountains. He had even started, crossing the river
to the Iowa side, where he waited the enrolment of

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. IO5

a chosen band of pioneers ; but a messenger from
his wife and certain of his disciples, reproaching him
as a shepherd who had deserted his flock, recalled
him to Nauvoo. Such a reproach was, beyond all
others, the last that the lion heart of Joseph could
bear and he returned and gave himself up to the
authorities of Illinois. But had Brigham Young
been home he never would have permitted that re-
turn. He would have thundered indignation upon
the craven heads of those who thus devoted their
Prophet to almost certain death. Rather would he
have sent a thousand elders to guard him to the
mountains, for none loved Joseph better than did
Brigham Young.

It was one of those cases in which Providence
over-rules for the accomplishment of its wiser pur-
poses. A triumphant career leading to empire was
most in accordance with human desires, but from
the hour of his death, the Church realized that a
martyr's blood was necessary to consecrate a new
dispensation of the gospel. Christ was a greater
success than Mohammed ; Joseph was more im-
mortal in his martyr's gore than he had been in the
seat at Washington. The Church mourns the event
to this day — ever will look upon it as one of the
darkest of earth's tragedies, but all acknowledge the
hand of God in it.

Brigham was away with the majority of the
Twelve when the martyrdom took place. Two only
were in Nauvoo ; they were Willard Richards and
'vjohn Taylor. Both of these were in prison with
the Prophet when the assassins, with painted faces,
broke into Carthage gaol, overpowered the guards,

V

106 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG " OR,

and martyred the brothers Joseph and Hyrum. No
pen can describe the universal shock felt among
the Saints, when the news burst upon them, and
sped throughout the United States and Europe.

Brigham Young and Orson Pratt were together
at Peterboro, N. H., at the house of Brother Bemet,
when a letter from Nauvoo came to a Mr. Joseph
Powers, giving particulars of the assassination. The
rumor met them first at Salem. Awful as it was to
him, the President too well realized that unless the
Twelve were equal to the occasion, the Church was
in danger of dissolution or a great schism. At best,
the Saints must feel for a moment as sheep without
a shepherd.

Those who have followed him in his eventful
career, know that Brigham is always greatest on
great occasions. He never fails in a trying hour.
The disciples of Christ, with Peter at their head,
went sorrowfully to their fishing nets after the
crucifixion ; but not so with these modern apostles.
11 The first thing that I thought of," says the Presi-
dent, " was whether Joseph had taken the keys of
" the kingdom with him from the earth. Brother
11 Orson Pratt sat on my left ; we were both leaning
" back in our chairs. Bringing my hand down on
" my knee, I said, the keys of the kingdom are right
11 here with the Church."

The President immediately started for Boston,
where he held, council with Heber C. Kimball,
Orson Pratt, and Wilford Woodruff, relative to their
return to Nauvoo. Heber and Brigham remained
there a week, awaiting the arrival of Apostle Lyman
Wight. During their stay, they ordained, at one

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. IO7

evening meeting, thirty-two elders. This act was
conclusive evidence that* these apostles did not in-
tend to let the Church die.

As soon as Lyman Wight arrived, the three set
out for Nauvoo, and at Albany they were joined by
Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt and Wilford Woodruff.

A stupendous burden rested upon the shoulders
of the Twelve. The Church had not only to be
comforted in its great affliction, and made to realize
by a sufficient manifestation of apostolic power, that
the keys were " right here with the Church," but to
establish an authorized succession. Sidney Rigdon
was already at Nauvoo. He had been the second
councilor to the Prophet, and Hyrum the first
councilor, was a martyr with his brother. Sidney
was now a claimant for the leadership. The Twelve
knew that they should have first to grapple with
this brilliant but unfit man, and knew that Sidney
would, if possible, wreck the Church in his vain-
glorious ambitions.

Granting that the keys of the kingdom remained
on earth, who held them ? This was the all-im-
portant question before the Saints, when Brigham
Young and the Twelve arrived at Nauvoo oh the
6th of August, 1844.

CHAPTER VIII.

SIDNEY RIGDON. BRIGHAM AND THE TWELVE TAKE
THEIR PLACE AND LEAD THE CHURCH. THE
DISCIPLES RECOGNIZE THE SPIRIT OF JOSEPH IN
HIS SUCCESSOR. THE LAST DAYS OF NAUVOO.

Sidney Rigdon, the second councilor of the
martyred Prophet, arrived at Nauvoo before the
President of the Twelve. He had for some time
been as an unstable staff to his chief, and the Saints
were not in a frame of mind to look upon him as
" the man whom God had called " to sustain the
Church in that awful hour. But the vain-glorious
Rigdon had come to claim the guardianship of the
Church, in the . absence of the majority of the
Twelve. There were enough, however, of that
quorum in Nauvoo to prevent Sidney from beguiling
the people into an untimely action.

When Rigdon appeared before the congregation,
he related a vision which he said the Lord had
shown him concerning the situation of the Church,
and declared that there must be a guardian chosen
" to build up the kingdom to Joseph." He was the
identical man, he said, that the prophets had sung
about, wrote about and rejoiced over ; he was to do
the identical work that had been the theme of all
the prophets in every preceding generation.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. IO9

Elder Parley P. Pratt remarked, " I am the
11 identical man the prophets never sung nor wrote
11 a word about."

Marks, the president of the stake, appointed a
day for a special conference, for the purpose of
choosing a guardian. ;

Willard Richards proposed waiting till the Twelve
Apostles returned, and advised the people^ to "ask
11 wisdom of God."

Elder Grover proposed waiting to examine the
revelation.

And thus the elders were variously moved.

Rigdon sought to evade coming in council with
such men as Willard Richards, Parley P. Pratt, John
Taylor and George A. Smith, but at length he was
forced to a meeting with them. Entering, he paced
the room and said :

" Gentlemen, you are used up; gentlemen, you are
1 divided ; the anti-Mormons have got you ; the
1 brethren are voting every way, some for James,
' some for Deming, some for Coulson and some for
' Bedell. The anti-Mormons have got you ; you
1 can't stay in the country ; -everything is in con-
1 fusion ; you can do nothing. You lack a great
1 leader ; you want a head ; and unless you unite
1 upon that head, you're blown to the four winds.
1 The anti-Mormons will carry the election ; a guar-
' dian must be appointed."

" Brethren," said George A. Smith, " Elder Rigdon
1 is entirely mistaken. There is no division ; the
' brethren are united ; the election will be unani-
1 mous, and the friends of law and order will be
1 elected by a thousand majority. There is no

I IO LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

" occasion to be alarmed. Brother Rigdon is inspir-
" ing fears there are no grounds for."

With the return of President Young and the re-
mainder of the Twelve vanished Rigdon's last
chance of being elected Guardian of the Church ;
"'but," says Apostle Woodruff, in his journal,

II when we landed in the city a deep gloom seemed
" to rest over Nauvoo which we never experienced
" before. The minds of the Saints were agitated ;
" their hearts sorrowful, and darkness seemed to
" cloud their path. They felt like sheep without a
" shepherd. Their beloved prophet having been
" taken away."

President Young immediately called a special
conference, to give Sidneys Rigdon the opportunity
to lay before the Church his claims for the leader-
ship. It was August 8th, 1844. That day was
practically to be decided who was to " lead Israel."

At the hour appointed, Sidney took his position
in a wagon, about two rods in front of the stand,
where sat the Twelve. For nearly two hours he
harrangued the Saints upon the subject of choosing
a guardian for the Church. But his words fell upon
the congregation like an untimely shower.

" The Lord hath not chosen you ! " Thus felt
the Mormon Israel as his words died upon the
ear.

At two p. m. the second meeting was convened.

" Attention all ! " The voice rang over that vast
congregation ; it was the voice of Brigham Young.
" This congregation," he said, " makes me think of
" the days of King Benjamin, the multitude being so
" great that all could not hear. For the first time

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS I I I

11 in my life, for the first time in your lives, for the
" first time in the Kingdom of God, in the nine-
" teenth century, without a prophet at our head, do
" I step forth to act in, my calling in connection
" with the quorum of the Twelve, as apostles of
" Jesus Christ unto this generation — apostles whom
" God has called by revelation through the Prophet
" Joseph Smith, who are ordained and annointed
" to bear off the keys of the Kingdom of God in
" all the world. This people have hitherto walked
" by sight and not by faith. You have had a
" prophet as the mouth of the Lord to speak to
" you, but he has sealed his testimony with
" his blood, and now for the first time are you
" called to walk by faith — not by sight.

" The first position I take in behalf of the Twelve
a and the people is to ask a few questions, I ask
" the Latter-day Saints, do you, as individuals, at
" this time, want to choose a prophet or a guardian ?
" Inasmuch as our prophet and patriarch are taken
" from our midst, do you want some one to guard,
" to guide and lead you through this world into the
" kingdom of God or not ? All who want some
" person to be a guardian, or a prophet, a spokes-
" man, or something else, signify it by raising the
11 right hand. (No votes).

" When I came to this stand I had peculiar feel-
11 ings and impressions. The faces of this people
" seem to say, we want a shepherd to guide and lead
" us through this world. All who want to draw
" away a party from the Church after them, let
" them do it if they can, but they will not prosper.

" If any man thinks he has influence among this

112 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

" people, to lead away a party, let him try it, and he
" will find out that there is power with the apostles;
" which will carry them off victorious through all
11 the world, and build up and defend the Church
" and kingdom of God.^c I

" What do the people want ? I feel as though I
" wanted the privilege to weep and mourn for thirty
" days at least, then rise up, shake myself, and tell
" the people what the Lord wants of them. Although
" my heart is too full of mourning to launch forth
" into business transactions and the organization of
" the Church, I feel compelled this day to step forth
" in discharge of those duties God has placed upon
" me.

11 There has been much said about Brother Rigdon
" being President of the Church, and leading the
11 people, being the head, &c. Brother Rigdon has
" come i,6oo miles to tell you what he wants to do*
" for you/ If the people want Brother Rigdon to
11 lead them, they may have him ; but, I say unto
11 you, the Twelve have the keys of the kingdom
" of God in all the world.

" The Twelve are pointed out by the finger of
11 God. Here is Brigham, have his knees ever
" faltered ? Have his lips ever quivered ? Here is
" Heber and the rest of the Twelve ; an independent
" body, who have the keys of the priesthood, the
" keys of the kingdom of God to deliver to all the
11 world ; this is true, so help me God ! They stand
11 next to Joseph, and are as the first presidency of
11 the Church.

" I do not know whether my enemies will take
11 my life or not, and I do not care, for I wait to be
11 with the man I love.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. II3

11 You cannot fill the office of a prophet, seer and
" revelater ; God must do this. You are like chil-
" dren without a father and sheep without a shep-
" herd. You must not appoint any man at your
" head ; if you should the Twelve must ordain him.
" You cannot appoint a man at your head ; but if
" you do want any other man or men to lead you,
" take them, and we will go our way to build up the
" kingdom in all the world.

" I tell you there is an over anxiety to hurry
" matters here. You cannot take any man and put
" him at the head ; you would scatter the Saints to
"the four winds ; you would sever the priesthood.
" So long as we remain as we are, the heavenly head
" is in constant co-operation with us ; and if you go
" out of that course God will have nothing to do
" with you.

" Again, perhaps some think that our beloved
" Brother Rigdon would not be honored, would not
" be looked to as a friend ; but if he does right, and
11 remains faithful, he will not act against our counsel
" nor we against his, but act together, and we shall
" be as one.

" I again repeat, no man can stand at our head
" except God reveals it from the heavens.

" I have spared no pains to learn my lesson of the
11 kingdom in this world, and in the eternal worlds.
"If it were not so I could go and live in peace;
" but for the gospel and your sakes, I shall stand in
" my place. We are liable to be killed all the day
" long. You never lived by faith.

" Brother Joseph, the Prophet, has laid the found-
" ation of a great work, and we will build upon it.

114 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

*' You have never seen the quorums built one upon
" another. There is an Almighty foundation laid.
41 And we can build a kingdom such as there never
41 was in the world ; we can build a kingdom faster
" than Satan can kill the Saints off.

" Elder Rigdon claims to be a spokesman to the
u Prophet. Very well, he was ; but can he now act
" in office? If he- wants now to be a spokesman to
" the Prophet, he must go to the other side of the
41 veil, for the Prophet is there ; but Elder Rigdon is
41 here. Why will Elder Rigdon be a fool ? I am
*' plain.

" I will ask, who has stood next to Joseph and
41 Hyrum ? I have, and I will stand next to them.
" We have a head, and that head is the apostleship )
" the spirit and the power of Joseph, and we can
" now begin to see the necessity of that apostle-
11 ship.

" Brother Rigdon was at his side — not above.
" no man has a right to counsel the Twelve but
" Joseph Smith. Think of these things. You can-
" not appoint a prophet, but if you will let the
"" Twelve remain and act in their place, the keys of
*' the kingdom are with them, and they can manage
4i the affairs of the Church, and direct all things
" aright.'S

Much more was said by the President, but this
brief synopsis will be sufficient to show the master
spirit stepping into the place to which destiny had
appointed him. On all these grand occasions of his
life, Brigham Young has towered above his fellows,
not so much in the character of a " spokesman," as
in that of a great and potent leader, whose spirit

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. I 1 5

could inspire a whole people with his own matchless
confidence and energy.

That day, " all Israel " felt that the spirit which
had moved Joseph to his work was living in Brig^
ham Young. Apostle Cannon, describing the cir-
cumstance, says :

" It was the first sound of his voice which the
" people had heard since he had gone east on his
" mission, and the effect upon them was most won-
" derful. Who that was present on that occasion
" can ever forget the impression it made upon them?
" If Joseph had risen from the dead, and again
" spoken in their hearing, the effect could not have
" been more startling than it was to many present
" at that meeting; it was the voice of Joseph him-
" self; and not only was it the' voice of Joseph
" which was heard, but it seemed in the eyes of the
" people as though it was the very person of Joseph
" which stood before them. A more wonderful and
" miraculous event than was wrought that day in
" the presence of that congregation we never heard
" of. The Lord gave his people a testimony that
" left no room for doubt, as to who was the man he
" had chosen to lead them. They both saw and
" heard with their natural eyes and ears ; and then
" the words which were uttered came, accompanied
" by the convincing power of God to their hearts,
" and they were filled with the Spirit and with great
" joy. There had been gloom and, in some hearts
" probably, doubt and uncertainty ; but now it was
" plain to all that here was the man upon whom the
" Lord had bestowed the necessary authority to act
" in their midst in Joseph's stead." ^

Jl6 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

That day saved the Church. The anti-Mormons
had imagined thai: it was only necessary to murder
the Prophet and Mormonism would cease to have a
name in the earth. But " the blood of the Prophet
" was the seed of the Church ; " and a great man
had risen to fulfill his mission.

The Twelve was sustained as the first Presidency
by the unanimous vote of the people. Rigdon left
for Pittsburgh, and gathered around him a few of
his disciples, while the apostles at Nauvoo set to
work to enlarge their superstructure.

" You have never seen the quorums built one
11 upon another," Brigham had said on that great
occasion. " There- is an almighty foundation laid,
11 and we will build a kingdom such as there never
11 was in the world."

This was more fully comprehended when, at the
next October conference, there were about sixty
high priests and four hundred and thirty seventies
ordained. And to-day his words have still a
broader meaning, for there are now nearly one hun-
dred quorums of the seventies, who constitute the
grand missionary army of the Church, under the
Twelve Apostles.

But turn we now to the more secular history of
the Mormon people.

On the 27th of September, 1844, Governor Ford
marched five hundred troops into Nauvoo. He
came ostensibly to bring the murderers of Joseph
and Hyrum Smith to justice ; for as they were, at the
time of their assassination, State prisoners, under

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. I 1 7

the plighted faith of the State, the Governor could
do nothing less than support an investigation. On
the day of his arrival, Brigham Young received his
commission as Lieut.-General of the Nauvoo Le-
gion, previously held by Joseph Smith, and the
next day the following was sent to His Excellency :

" Head-quarters Nauvoo Legion,

Sept. 28, 1844.

Sir : The review of the Nauvoo Legion will take
place this day at 12 m., at which time the Com-
mander-in-chief, with his staff, is respectfully solicit-
ed to accept an escort from the Legion, and be
present at the review.

Brigham Young,

Lieut. -Gen. Nauvoo Legion?

The Lieut.-General reviewed the Legion, the
Governor, General J. J. Harden and Staff present.
Salutes were fired, and the Legion made a soldier-
like appearance ; several of its staff officers, how-
ever, came in uniform but without arms, which the
Governor regarded as a hint to remind him of his
having disarmed the Legion previous to the massa-
cre of Joseph Smith.

Soon afterwards the Governor issued the follow-
ing very suggestive order, accompanied with in-
structions :

State of Illinois, Executive Department,

Springfield, Oct. 9th, 1844.

To Lieut.-General Brigham Young, of the Nauvoo

Legion.
Sir : It may be probable that there may be fur-

I 1 8 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

ther disturbances in Hancock County by those op-
posed to the prosecutions against the murderers of
Joseph and Hyrum Smith. They may combine to-
gether in arms to subvert justice and prevent those
prosecutions from going on. They may also attack
or resist the civil authorities of the State in that
county, and they may attack some of the settle-
ments or people there with violence.

The sheriff of the county may want a military
force to guard the court and protect it, or its officers
or the jurors thereof, or the witnesses attending
court, from the violence of a mob.

In all these cases you are hereby ordered and di-
rected to hold in readiness a sufficient force, under
your command, of the Nauvoo Legion, to act under
the direction of the said sheriff, for the purpose
aforesaid ; and also to suppress mobs which may be
collected in said county to injure the persons or
property of any of the citizens.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my
hand and affixed the Seal of State, the day and year
first herein above written.

Thomas Ford,
Governor and Commander-zn-cktef!'

11 The inclosed order is one of great delicacy to
execute. I have conversed with Mr. Backenstos and
others, and my opinion is the same as theirs, that
employing the Legion, even legally, may call down
the vengeance of the people against your city. If
it should be the means of getting up a civil war in
Hancock, I do not know how much force I could
bring to the aid of the Government. A force to be
efficient would have to be called out as volunteers ;
a draft would bring friends and enemies alike. I
called for twenty-five hundred before ; and, by

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. II9

ordering out independent companies, got four hun-
dred and seventy-five, three of those companies,
the most efficient, have been broken up, and would
refuse to go again. I should anticipate but a small
force to be raised by volunteers. I would not un-
dertake to march a drafted militia there. Two-
thirds of them would join the enemy. The enclosed
order is more intended as a permission to use the
Legion, in the manner indicated, if upon considera-
tion of the whole matter it is thought advisable,
than a compulsory command.

Your most wise and discreet councilors and the
county officers will have to act according to their
best judgment.

Thomas Ford."

This order, with the private instructions, is very
significant, in connection with the history of the
Mormons in Missouri and Illinois. Constitutionally
they were in the right. The murder of the Prophet
and his brother had brought them into the service
of the State. Thus employed, Brigham Young and
the legion could have taken care of their people,
and, if necessary, could have maintained the Gover-
nor through the issue of a civil war. This would
however, have given Illinois to the dominance of
the Mormons. Hence the "delicacy" of his Ex-
cellency in calling the legion into service ; doing
substantially what Joseph Smith had done, which
in him had been construed as high treason against
the State,

The anti-Mormons were keen to perceive the
advantage which the people of Nauvoo had gained,
not only from the intrinsic righteousness of their
cause, but in their patient bearing of intolerable

120 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

wrongs. It became their policy from that moment
to repeal the charter of Nauvoo, and the charter of
the legion. This the Legislature of Illinois did in
the month of January, 1845. The Mormon people
were now virtually outlawed, and all constitutional
powers for their preservation taken away from
them.

The members of the Legislature were but too
ready to execute any plan proposed for the extinc-
tion of the Mormon community. One of the mem-
bers of the Senate, Jacob C. Davis, was under in-
dictment for the murder of the Prophet and his
brother. In relation to this action of the Legis-
lature, the Attorney General of the State, Josiah
Lamborn, wrote to President Young thus :

" I have always considered that your enemies
11 have been prompted by religious and political
" prejudices, and by a desire for plunder and blood,
" more than for the common good. By the repeal
" of your charter, and by refusing all amendments
" and modifications, our Legislature has given a
" kind of sanction to the barbarous manner in which
" you have been treated. Your two representatives
" exerted themselves to the extent of their ability
" in your behalf, but the tide of popular passion and
" frenzy was too strong to be resisted. It is truly a
" melancholy spectacle to witness the law-makers of
" a sovereign State condescending to pander to the
" vices,, ignorance and malevolence of a class of
" people who are at all times ready for riot, murder
" and rebellion."

Of Jacob C. Davis, he said :

" Your Senator, Jacob C. Davis, has done much

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 121

" to poison the minds of members against anything
" in your favor. He walks at large, in defiance of
" law, an indicted murderer. If a Mormon was in
" his position, the Senate would afford no protection,
" but he would be dragged forth to the gaol or to
" the gallows, or to be shot down by a cowardly and
" brutal mob."

On the 19th of May the trial of the men indicted
by the grand jury for the murder of Joseph and
Hyrum Smith, was begun at Carthage, Hon. Richard
M. Young of Quincy on the bench. The men on
trial were : Col. Levi Williams, a Baptist preacher ;
Thomas C. Sharp, editor of the Warsaw Signal ;
Jacob C. Davis, Senator ; Mark Aldrich and William
N. Grover. They were outrageously held to bail,
upon their personal recognizances, in the unprece-
dentedly insignificant sum of one thousand dollars
each, to make their appearance in the court each
day of the term. They made two affidavits, asking
for the array of jurors to be quashed, obtained the
discharge of the county commissioners, the sheriff
and his deputies, and the appointment by the court
of two special officers to select jurors. Ninety-six
were summoned, out of whom the defence chose a
suitable panel. One of the lawyers for the
accused, Calvin A. Warren, in his defence of them,
said : " If the prisoners were guilty of murder, then
" he himself was guilty. It was the public opinion
" that the Smiths ought to be killed, and public
" opinion made the laws ; consequently it was not
" murder to kill them ! " This was strange doctrine
to be affirmed in a great murder case, in which the
State was a party, not in an ordinary but an extra-

122 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

ordinary sense ; affirmed too and sustained in open
court.

It is scarcely necessary to add that the assassins
were " honorably acquitted ! "

But the tragedy of those days was not without
an occasional relief. One of the richest practical
jokes ever perpetrated is thus related by one of the
actors :

" By the time we were at work in the Nauvoo
" Temple," says President Young, " officiating in the
" ordinances, the mob had learned that ' Mormon-
" ' ism ' was not dead, as they had supposed. We
" had completed the walls of the temple, and the
11 attic story from about half way up of the first
" windows, in about fifteen months. It went up
" like magic, and we then commenced officiating in
" the ordinances. Then the mob commenced to
" hunt for other victims ; they had already killed
" the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum in
" Carthage gaol, while under the pledge of the State
" for their safety, and now they wanted Brigham,
" the President of the Twelve Apostles, who were
" then acting as the Presidency of the Church. I
" was in my room in the temple ; it was the south-
" east corner of the upper story. I learned that a
" posse was lurking around the temple, and that the
" United States Marshal was waiting for me to
" come down, whereupon I knelt down and asked
" my Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus, to
" guide and protect me, that I might live to prove
" advantageous to the Saints ; I arose from my
" knees, and sat down in my chair. There came a
" rap at my door. Come in, I said ; and Bro.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. I 23

George D. Grant, who was then engaged driving
my carriage and doing chores for me, entered the
room. Said he, ' Brother Brigham, do you know
' that a posse and the United States Marshal are
' here ? ' I told him that I had heard so. On en-
tering the room, Brother Grant left the door open.
Nothing came into my mind what to do until,
looking across the hall, I saw Brother Wil-
liam Miller leaning against the wall. As I
stepped towards the door I beckoned to him ; he
came. Brother William, I said, the Marshal is
here for me ; will you go and do just as I tell
you ? If you will I will serve them a trick. I
knew that Brother Miller was an excellent man,,
perfectly reliable, and capable of carrying out my
project. Here, take my cloak, said I ; but it hap-
pened to be Brother Heber C. Kimball's ; our
cloaks were alike in color, fashion and size. I
threw it around his shoulders, and told him to
wear my hat and accompany Brother George D.
Grant. He did so. George, you step into the
carriage, said I to Brother Grant, and look
towards Brother Miller, and say to him, as though
you were addressing me, are you ready to ride?'
You can do this, and they will suppose Brother
Miller to be me, and proceed accordingly ; which
they did. Just as Brother Miller was enter-
ing the carriage, the Marshal stepped up to
him, and, placing his hand upon his shoulder, said,
1 You are my prisoner.' Brother William entered
the carriage, and said to the Marshal, ' I am going
to the Mansion House, won't you ride with
me ? ' They both went to the Mansion House,

124 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

" There were my sons Joseph A., Brigham Jr., and
" Brother Heber C. Kimball's boys and others, who
" were looking on, and all seemed at once to under-
" stand and participate in the joke. They followed
" the carriage to the Mansion House, and gathered
" around Brother Miller with tears in their eyes,
" saying, father, or President Young, where are you
" going ? ' Brother Miller looked at them kindly,
11 but made no reply ; and the Marshal really
" thought he had got ' Brother Brigham/

" Lawyer Edmonds, who was then staying at the
" Mansion House, appreciating the joke, volunteered
" to Brother Miller to go to Carthage with him,
" and see him safe through.

" When they arrived within two or three miles
" of Carthage, the Marshal, with his posse, stopped.
" They arose in their carriages, buggies and wagons,
" and, like a tribe of Indians going to battle, or as
" if they were a pack of demons, yelling and shout-
" ing, exclaimed : ' We've got him ; we've got him ;
" ' we've got him ! '

" When they reached Carthage, the Marshal took
" the supposed Brigham into an upper room of the
11 hotel, and placed a guard over him, at the same
" time telling those around that he had got him.
" Brother Miller remained in the room until they
" bid him come to supper. While there, parties
" came in, one after the other, and asked for Brig-
" ham. Brother Miller was pointed out to them.
" So it continued, until an apostate Mormon, by the
" name of Thatcher, who had lived in Nauvoo,
" came in. sat down and asked the landlord where
" Brigham was.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 25

" ' That is Mr. Young,' said the landlord, pointing
" across the table to Brother Miller.

" ' Where ? I can't see any one that looks like
" ' Brigham,' Thatcher replied.

" The landlord told him it was that fleshy man,
" eating.

" ' Oh, H — 1 ! ' exclaimed Thatcher, ' that's not
" ' Brigham ; that's William Miller, one of my old
" ' neighbors.'

" Upon hearing this the landlord went, and, tap-
" ping the sheriff on the shoulder, took him a few
" steps to one side, and said :

" ' You have made a mistake. That is not Brig-
" ham Young. It is William Miller, of Nauvoo.

" The Marshal, very much astonished, exclaimed :
" ' Good heavens ! and he passed for Brigham.' He
" then took Brother Miller into a room, and, turning
" to him, said : ' What in h — 1 is the reason you
" ' did not tell me your name ? '

" ' You have not asked me my name,' Brother
" Miller replied.

" ' Well, what is your name ? ' said the sheriff,
" with another oath.

" ' My name is William Miller/

" ' I thought your name was Brigham Young. Do
" ' you say this for a fact ? '

" ' Certainly I do,' returned Brother Miller.'

" ' Then,' said the Marshal, ' Why did you not
" ' tell me that before ? '

" ' I was under no obligation to tell you,' replied
" Miller.

" The Marshal, in a rage, walked out of the room,
" followed by Brother Miller, who walked off in

126 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OK

" company with Lawyer Edmonds, Sheriff Backen-
" stos and others, who took him across lots to a
" place of safety ; and this is the real birth of the
" story of ' Bogus Brigham/ as far as I can recol-
" lect."

The energy, referred to by the President in the
completion of the temple, signifies that the author-
ities were anxious for the Saints to receive their
endowments before their removal, which was every
day becoming more matured and pressing in their
minds. They did not wish to make their flight in
haste, and it was pretty evident that they had not a
moment to spare for a well-planned exodus.

It may seem strange to some, who do not appre-
ciate the earnest, genuine faith of these singular
people, that they should thus finish their temple
merely, as it would seem, to leave it as a monument
for a triumphant mob. But the Saints had been
commanded by revelation to build that temple ; and
the administration of their ordinances was of more
than earthly importance to them,

From their retreats, where they had secreted
themselves to avoid arrest, President Young- and
the apostles came forth, on the morning of Satur-
day, the 24th of May, 1845, to l av the cap-stone on
the south-east corner of the temple.

"The singers sang their sweetest, notes," writes
one of the apostles ; " their voices thrilled the
" hearts of the assemblage, and the music of the
'• band, which played on the occasion, never sounded
" more charming ; and when President Young
" placed the stone in its position and said :

" ' The last stone is now laid upon the temple,

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS.

I27

" ' and I pray the Almighty, in the name of Jesus,
" ' to defend us in this place and sustain us until
" ' the temple is finished, and we have all got our
" ' endowments.' And the whole congregation
" shouted, ' Hosanna ! Hosanna ! Hosanna, to God
" ' and the Lamb, amen, amen, and amen ; ' and
" repeated these words the second and third time.
" The Spirit of God descended upon the people ;
" gladness filled every heart, and tears of joy
" coursed down many cheeks. The words of praise
" were uttered with earnestness and fervor ; it was
" a relief to many to be able to give expression to
" the feelings with which their hearts were over-
" charged. Altogether the scene was a very impress-
" ive one, and we doubt not that angels looked upon
" it and rejoiced."

" So let it be," said President Young, concluding
the ceremonies ; " this is the seventh day of the
" week, or the Jewish Sabbath. It is the day on
" which the Almighty finished his work and rested
" from his labors. We have finished the walls
" of the temple, and may rest to-day from our
" labors."

The workmen were dismissed for the day, the
congregation dispersed, and the Twelve Apostles
returned to their places of retreat.

Governor Ford, in a letter to President Young,
under date of April 8th, 1845, ur g m g tne migration
of the Mormons to California, said :

" If you can get off by yourselves you may enjoy
" peace ; but, surrounded by such neighbors, I con-
" fess that I do not see the time when you will be
" permitted to enjoy quiet. I was informed by

128 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

" General Joseph Smith last Summer that he con-
" templated a removal west ; and from what I
" learned from him and others at that time, I think,
11 if he had lived, he would have begun to move in
" the matter before this time. I would be willing
" to exert all my feeble abilities and influence to
" further your wiews in this, respect if it was the
" wish of your people.

" I would suggest a matter in confidence. Cali-
" fornia now offers a field for the prettiest enterprise
" that has been undertaken in modern times. It is
" but sparsely inhabited, and by none but the Indian
" or imbecile Mexican Spaniards. I have not en-
14 quired enough to know how strong it is in men
44 and means. But this we know, that if conquered
44 from Mexico, that country is so physically weak
44 and morally distracted that she could never send
44 a force there to reconquer it. Why should it not
44 be a pretty operation for your people to go out
44 there, take possession of and conquer a portion
44 of the vacant country, and establish an independ-
4< ent Government of your own, subject only to the
44 laws of nations ? You would remain there a long
44 time before you would be disturbed by the prox-
44 imity of other settlements. If you conclude to
44 do this, your design ought not to be known, or
44 otherwise it would become the duty of the United
44 States to prevent your emigration. If once you
44 cross the line of the United States Territories,
44 you would be in no danger of being interfered
44 with."

Knowing the intentions of Joseph Smith to re-
move the Mormon people, Senator Douglass and

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. I 29

others had given similar advice to him ; and the
very fact that such men looked upon the Mormons
as quite equal to the establishment of an independ-
ent nationality, is most convincing proof that not
their wrong-doing, but their empire-founding genius
has been, and still is, the cause of the " irrepressible
conflict " between them and the gentiles.

The advice of Governor Ford, however, was
neither sought nor required. Brigham had nearly
matured every part of the movement, shaping also
the emigration from the British mission ; but the
Rocky Mountains, not California proper, was the
place chosen for his people's retreat.

It was then that Brigham Young addressed the
famous petition to President Polk and the Gover-
nors of all the States, excepting Missouri and Illinois,
changing simply the address to each person. Here
it is :

Nauvoo, April 24th, 1845.

His Excellency James K. Polk,

President of the United States.

Hon. Sir: Suffer us, in behalf of a disfranchised
and long afflicted people, to prefer a few suggestions
for your serious consideration, in hope of a friendly
and unequivocal response, at as early a period as
may suit your convenience, and the extreme urgency
of the case seems to demand.

It is not our present design to detail the multi-
plied and aggravated wrongs that we have received
in the midst of a nation that gave us birth. Most
of us have long been loyal citizens of some one of
these United States, over which you have the honor
to preside, while a few only claim the privilege of

I30 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

peaceable and lawful emigrants, designing to make
the Union our permanent residence.

We say we are a disfranchised people. We are
privately told by the highest authorities of the State
that it is neither prudent nor safe for us to vote at
the polls ; still we have continued to maintain our
right to vote, until the blood of our best men has
been shed, both in Missouri and Illinois, with
impunity.

You are doubtless somewhat familiar with the
history of our expulsion from the State of Missouri,
wherein scores of our brethren were massacred.
Hundreds died through want and sickness, occa-
sioned by their unparalleled sufferings. Some mil-
lions worth of our property was destroyed, and some
fifteen thousand souls fled for their lives to the then
hospitable and peaceful shores of Illinois ; and that
the State of Illinois granted to us a liberal charter,
for the term of perpetual succession, under whose
provision private rights have become invested, and
the largest city in the State has grown up, number-
ing about twenty thousand inhabitants.

But, sir, the startling attitude recently assumed
by the State of Illinois, forbids us to think that her
designs are any less vindictive than those of Mis-
souri. She has already used the military of the
State, with the executive at their head, to coerce
and surrender up our best men to unparalleled
murder, and that too under the most sacred pledges
of protection and safety. As a salve for such un-
earthly perfidy and guilt, she told us, through her
highest executive officers, that the laws should be
magnified and the murderers brought to justice ;
but the blood of her innocent victims had not been
wholly wiped from the floor of the awful arena, ere
the Senate of that State rescued one of the indicted
actors in that mournful tragedy from the sheriff of
Hancock County, and gave him a seat in her hall
of legislation ; and all who were indicted by the

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. I3I

grand jury of Hancock County for the murder of
Joseph and Hyrum Smith, are suffered to roam at
large, watching for further prey.

To crown the climax of those bloody deeds, the
State has repealed those chartered rights, by which
we might have lawfully defended "ourselves against
aggressors. If we defend ourselves hereafter against
violence, whether it comes under the shadow of law
or otherwise (for we have reason to expect it in
both ways), we shall then be charged with treason
and suffer the penalty ; and if we continue passive
and non-resistant, we must certainly expect to perish,
for our enemies have sworn it.

And here, sir, permit us to state that General
Joseph Smith, during his short life, was arraigned
at the bar of his country about fifty times, charged
with criminal offences, but was acquitted every time
by his country ; his enemies, or rather his religious
opponents, almost invariably being his judges. And
we further testify that, as a people, we are law-abid-
ing, peaceable and without crime ; and we challenge
the world to prove to the contrary ; and while other
less cities in Illinois have had special courts insti-
tuted to try their criminals, we have been stript of
every source of arraigning marauders and murderers
who are prowling around to destroy us, except the
common .magistracy.

With these facts before you, sir, will you write to
us without delay as a father and friend, and advise
us what to do. We are members of the same great
confederacy. Our fathers, yea, some of us, have
fought and bled for our country, and we love her
constitution dearly.

In the name of Israels God, and by virtue of
multiplied ties of country and kindred, we ask your
friendly interposition in our favor. Will it be too
much for us to ask you to convene a special session
of Congress, and furnish us an asylum, where we
can enjoy our rights of conscience and religion un-

132 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

molested ? Or, will you, in a special message to
that body, when convened, recommend a remon-
strance against such unhallowed acts of oppression
and expatriation as this people have continued to
receive from the States of Missouri and Illinois ?
Or will you favor us by your personal influence and
by your official rank ? Or will you express your
views concerning what is called the " Great Western
Measure " of colonizing the Latter-day Saints in
Oregon, the north-western Territory, or some loca-
tion remote from the States, where the hand of
oppression shall not crush every noble principle
and extinguish every patriotic feeling ?

And now, honored sir, having reached out our
imploring hands to you, with deep solemnity, we
would importune you as a father, a friend, a patriot
and the head of a mighty nation, by the constitution
of American liberty, by the blood of our fathers who
have fought for the independence of this republic,
by the blood of the martyrs which has been shed
in our midst, by the wailings of the widows and
orphans, by our murdered fathers and mothers,
brothers and sisters, wives and children, by the
dread of immediate destruction from secret combi-
nations now forming for our overthrow, and by
every endearing tie that binds man to man and
renders life bearable, and that too, for aught we
know, for the last time, — that you will lend your
immediate aid to quell the violence of mobocracy,
and exert your influence to establish us as a people
in our civil and religious rights, where we now are,
or in some part of the United States, or in some
place remote therefrom, where we may colonize in
peace and safety as soon as circumstances will
permit.

We sincerely hope that your future prompt meas-
ures towards us will be dictated by the best feel-
ings that dwell in the bosom of humanity, and the

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. I 33

blessings of a grateful people, and many ready to
perish, shall come upon you.

We are, sir, with great respect, your obedient
servants,

Brigham Young,

Willard Richards,

Orsen Spencer,

Orsen Pratt,

W. W. Phelps,

N. W. Babbitt,

J. M. Bernhisel,

>- Committee,

In behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints, at Nauvoo, Illinois.

P. S. — As many of our communications, post
marked at Nauvoo, have failed of their destination,
and the mails around us have been intercepted by
cur enemies, we shall send this to some distant
office by the hand of a special messenger.

The appeal itself is not a mere attempt at rhetoric.
The very inelegance of multiplied ties and sacred
objects invoked and crowded upon each other, to
touch the hearts of men in power, is truly affecting.
There is a tragic burden in the circumstances and
urgency of the case. But the prayer was un-
answered.

CHAPTER IX.

the remnant at nauvoo. the great battle,
march of the mob army into the doomed
city : description by governor ford. thomas
l. kane's famous picture of nauvoo, after
the fall, and the scene of extermination.

Scarcely less eventful than that of the main body
of the Church had been the history of the remnant
at Nauvoo, after the departure of the Twelve ; a
condensed narrative of which we must give, culmin-
ating in the famous " Battle of Nauvoo," and the
evacuation of that devoted city.

In April, ere the vanguard of the pioneers had
got fairly on their journey west, the anti-Mormons
again began to rise, and Governor Ford sent a
small force into Hancock County, ostensibly to pre-
serve the peace, but really to spur the Mormons in
their flight. On the 16th of that month, the officer
in command addressed the following to the editor
of the Hancock Eagle :

W. E. Matlock, Esq. : Will you permit me,,
through the medium of your paper, to announce to
the citizens of Hancock, that I have been directed
by His Excellency, Governor Ford, to disband the
force under my command, on the ist of May
proximo. It seems to be the understanding of the

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 35

Executive, and the State at large, that the time
stipulated for the removal of the Mormons will ex-
pire on that day. I indulge a hope that the under-
standing so general may not be disappointed.

The removal of the entire Mormon population
has been looked forward to as an event that could
alone restore peace and quiet to this portion of our
State ; and for the peace of the inhabitants, and
honor of the State, public expectation must be
gratified.

With great respect, I am, &c,

W. B. Warren,
Major Commanding III. Vol.

As the reader is aware, there was no such terms
of stipulation, that the Mormons would evacuate
their city by the ist of May. They had been leav-
ing, company after company, as fast as possible. It
was not in human efforts to do more than they had
done. One of Major Warren's reports in the
Quincy Whig of May 20th, 1846, will give to the
reader the other side of the picture :

" The Mormons are leaving the city with all pos-
" sible dispatch. During the week four hundred
" teams have crossed at three points, or about 1,350
" souls. The demonstrations made by the Mormon
" population are unequivocal. They are leaving
" the State, and preparing to leave, with every
" means God and nature have placed in their hands.
" This ought to be satisfactory.

" A man of near sixty years of age, living about
" seven miles from this place (Nauvoo), was taken
" from his house a few nights since, stripped of his
" clothing, and his back cut to pieces with a whip,

136 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

" for no other reason than because he was a Mor-
" mon, and too old to make a successful resistance.
" Conduct of this kind would disgrace a horde of
" savages."

Early in June a public meeting was called at Car-
thage to make arrangements for the fourth of July,
but the " crusade " coming uppermost, even above
the celebration of our national independence, the
meeting resolved itself into an anti-Mormon one,
and delegates were appointed to hold a conference
with a committee of the " new settlers " who were
succeeding the Mormons in Nauvoo. Accordingly,
a delegation from Nauvoo attended the conference
at Carthage on the 12th of June, where they found
an armed force ready to march against their city ;
but, after a hurried consultation, it was agreed to
march them within four miles of Nauvoo, giving
the new citizens the privilege of sending a commit-
tee of nine, to meet a similar committee of nine
from the anti-Mormons, to confer on the all-prevail-
ing subject.

The anti-Mormons stated that they wished to
march their force into Nauvoo, to see if the Mor-
mons were leaving, but the new citizens' committee
promptly objected. It was then proposed that
companies of fifty at a time should march in, which
was also rejected, and it was declared that no armed
force, without legal authority, would be permitted
to enter the city.

All manner of illegal proceedings were resorted
to by the mob, to get into custody the most active
members of the new citizens' committee, and they
went even so far as to threaten to lynch them. At

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 37

length W. E. Clifford, President of the Trustees of
the town of Nauvoo, wrote a letter to Governor
Ford for assistance, to protect the town against the
mob faction.

In response to the trustees of Nauvoo, the Gov-
nor sent Major Parker to defend the city. Major
Parker issued a proclamation to Hancock County,
commanding all good citizens to return to their
homes.

Previous to this, the mob had got a certain John
Carlin, till then unknown to fame, deputized as a
special constable to serve writs upon members of
the new citizens' committee, and by this time the
ambitious mobocrat had become sufficiently famous
to reply to the proclamation, placing himself above
its authority. Major Parker answered that, if Car-
lin's posse did not disperse, he should regard them
as a mob, and treat them as such ; to which Carlin
rejoined that he should do the same with Parker
and his men. Nor was the mobocrat worsted by
the State authorities, for he raised an army of a
thousand men, officered and equipped for a cam-
paign, and gave the command of it to Colonel Sin-
gleton. Major Parker now, in behalf of the State,
concluded to consider Carlin and his compeers his
equals, and to make a treaty with them ; and*
in order that they might be fully satisfied, he
agreed to all the terms of their officers.

Colonel Singleton submitted the propositions of
the treaty to his men, but they manifested their dis-
approbation so decidedly that he resigned his com-
mand and published the following:

i38 life of brigham young; or,

Carthage, III.,

11 o'clock p. m., Sept. 8, 1846.

Messrs. Smith, Reynolds and Parker,

Gentlemen : I have submitted to the officers of
my command, for their ratification, the articles of
peace this day concluded between us, and I am
sorry that they have been rejected. I consider that
the Mormon population in Nauvoo have agreed to
as much as a reasonable or feeling man could ask.
You will, therefore, consider me no longer connect-
ed in any way with the camp in its future proceed-
ings. Col. Chittenden has likewise retired.

Respectfully yours, &c,

James W. Singleton.

The Warsaw Signal thus explained :

" While this compromise was under consideration
" the aspect of affairs in the camp was gloomy in-
" deed. The number of men were reduced to about
" four hundred, and it required all the energies of
" ' old Tom ' (Thomas S. Brockman) to keep them
" together. When it was, however, fully understood
" that the treaty had been rejected, the gloom wore
" off, and all seemed anxious to bring things to an
" immediate crisis."

Carlin thereupon appointed " Col. Brockman " to
fill Col. Singleton's place, and the new commander,
in a stirring speech, told the regulators he would
lead them on if they would pledge themselves to
obey his orders. " Old Tom," as he called him-
self, was described as the staff of the camp.

As soon as Brockman took command, he gave
orders for marching. The mob had now again

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS.

139

swelled to over a thousand, with many baggage
wagons, and everything for a regular campaign.

The Mormons and the new citizens prepared
themselves for the- worst. On the 19th of Septem-
ber, 1846, at about half-past nine a. m., the watch-
men posted on the tower of the temple announced
that the mob was approaching Nauvoo on the Car-
thage road. Orders were given to the four com-
panies into which the volunteers of Nauvoo had
been organized to inarch out and meet the enemy.
About noon the companies reached the copse of
timber in Lott's Lane on the Carthage road, when
Mayor John Wood, Major Flood, Dr. Conyers, and
Messrs. Joel Rice and Benjamin Clifford, Jr., all of
Quincy, arrived at Nauvoo. Major Flood having
received a commission from the Governor to raise
forces in Adam's County for the protection of Nau-
voo, Mayor Wood recommended that they proceed
to the mob camp to effect a compromise. This
these gentlemen did, and held a conference with
Carlin and Brockman, who made a written demand
that Carlin should be allowed to arrest his men ;
that the Mormons should give up their arms and
leave the State within thirty days, and that the
anti-Mormons should station a force at their discre-
tion in the city to see that the terms were complied
with. The document was signed, John Carlin. Thus
it will be seen that this now illustrious mobocrat ac-
tually dictated to a State, in civil war, including its
Governor and militia.

As the Quincy peacemakers returned from the
camp of the regulators, several cannon balls were
fired over their heads.

I40 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

Major Flood declining to accept the commission
of the Governor, Benjamin Clifford of Quincy took
command of the volunteers to defend Nauvoo.

The mob continued advancing, firing their can-
non. At about five p. m., they halted, and shortly
retired a short distance and camped for the night.
During the night there was some skirmishing be-
tween the hostile forces.

Next day, September the nth, with the over-
whelming mob force within gun range of their
defences, the citizens of Nauvoo anxiously waited
for the reinforcement which Major Parker, upon
leaving, gave them reasons to hope would be sent
to their relief from the Governor. But no reinforce-
ment came, and it was now too evident that they
must rely upon their own resources.

The besieged, in their strait, remembered that
there were two steamboat shafts which had lain for
years on the banks of the Mississippi. These the
citizens of Nauvoo hastily transformed into cannon.

The companies paraded at the Temple at an
early hour, and Captain William Anderson chose a
band of select men for flankers and sharpshooters,
who were armed with repeating rifles. These pro 7
ceeded to " Squire Wells," and organized under the
name of the " Spartan band," with Anderson captain
in command, and Alexander McRae second captain.
They then moved to the La Harpe road and
ambushed in a corn field.

The mob advanced in solid columns to the La
Harpe road, when the Spartan band became nearly
surrounded by their flankers, but the Spartans beat
a retreat under a close fire, which they returned

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 141

vigorously, and retired in good order, in spite of the
enemy's artillery, which poured after them grape
and canister. They retreated towards the town,
where a line of defence had been hastily thrown up ?
under which they took shelter. The mob dispatched
their horse to take possession of it, but were driven
back by a spirited cannonade. Several times during
the day the mob attempted to outflank the volun-
teers, but were as often checked by counter moves ;
and, after their last repulse, they retired to the brow
of the hill and entrenched themselves for the night
in the field of Hyrum Smith, the martyr.

During the night the defenders , were not idle,
having erected breastworks. In the morning a flag
of truce was brought in, with a demand from Brock-
man for the surrender of the city. This was rejected,
and then commenced the " Great Battle."

The defenders went into line early, each company
taking up its respective position. Col. Johnson
being now sick, the command fell upon Lieut.-Col
Wm. E. Cutler, with Daniel H. Wells as his aid.
During the battle Captain Anderson, commander
of the Spartan band, and his son, were killed. He
died encouraging his men with his last words. The
action lasted one hour and twenty minutes, when
the mob retreated, carrying their dead and wounded
in conveyances brought up ; but his men were so
exhausted that they laid down by their guns, unable
to leave their position until they had received re-
freshments, so overpowering had been the excite-
ment of the battle. As soon, however, as they were
refreshed, and had taken care of their dead and
wounded, the companies resumed the positions they

142 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

had held in the morning, and repaired their defences
in anticipation of another attack. The command
of the Spartan band, after the fall of Anderson,
devolved on Captains Alexander McRae and Almon
L % Fuller.

The Warsaw Signal, the mob organ, in that days
bulletin said :

" The battle lasted from the time the first feint
" was made, until our men were drawn off, an hour
11 and a quarter. Probably there is not on record
" an instance of a longer continued militia fight.
" The Mormons stood their ground manfully, but
" from the little execution done by them, we infer
" that they were not very cool or deliberate. Their
" loss is uncertain, as they had taken special pains
" to conceal the number of their dead and wounded."

Mayor Wood and his companions returned to
Quincy after the Saturday's battle. They imme-
diately called a public meeting, at which it was
decided that a committee ofone hundred should go
to settle the difficulties in Hancock County. On
the Tuesday following the committee ofone hundred
arrived ; but it was soon discovered by the defenders
that they were the strongest anti-Mormons that
Adams County could raise. It had been resolved
that, if the Quincy committee did not succeed in
expelling the citizens of Nauvoo by a treaty, they
would join the mob force, for which reason Mayor
Wood and his colleagues refused to be of their
number.

Immediately after the arrival of the Quincy com-
mittee, a lengthy correspondence was exchanged,
and the following treaty executed :

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 43

" Articles of accommodation, treaty and agree-
ment made and entered into this 16th day of De-
cember, A. D. 1846, between Almon W. Babbitt,
Joseph L. Heywood and John S. Fullmer, trustees
in trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints, of the one part, Thomas B. Brockman,
commander of the posse, and John Carlin, special
constable and civil head of the posse of Hancock
County, of the second part, and Andrew Johnson,
chairman of the citizens of Quincy, of the third
part :

1st. — The city of Nauvoo will surrender. The
force of Col. Brockman to enter and take possession
of the city to-morrow, the 12th of September, at
three o'clock p. m.

2d. — The arms to be delivered to the Quincy
committee, to be returned on the crossing of the
river. %

3d. — The Quincy committee pledge themselves
to use their influence for the protection of persons
and property from all violence, and the officers of
the camp and the men pledge themselves to protect
all persons and property from violence.

4th. — The sick and helpless to be protected and
treated with humanity.

5th. — The Mormon population of the city to leave
the State or disperse as soon as they can cross the
river.

6th. — Five men, including the trustees of the
Church (William Pickett not of their number), to
be permitted to remain in the city for the disposition
of property, free from all molestation and personal
violence.

7th. — Hostilities to cease immediately, and ten
men of the Quincy committee to enter the city in
the execution of their duty as soon as they think
proper.

We, the undersigned, subscribe to, ratify, and con-
firm the foregoing articles of accommodation, treaty

144 L1FE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

and agreement, the day and year first above

written.

Almon W. Babbitt,
Joseph L. Heywood,
John S. Fuller,

Trustees in trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.

Andrew Johnson,

Chairman of the Committee of Quincy.

Thomas S. Brockman,

Commanding Posse.

John Carlin,

Special Constable.

The triumphal entrance of the mob into the
doomed city is thus described by Governor Ford :

" The constable's/^^ marched in, with Brockman
at their head, consisting of about eight hundred
armed men, and six or seven hundred unarmed,
who came from motives of curiosity, to see the
once proud city of Nauvoo humbled and delivered
up to its enemies, and to the domination of a self-
constituted and irresponsible power. When the
posse arrived in the city, the leaders of it erected
themselves into a tribunal to decide who should
be forced away and who remain. Parties were dis-
patched to search for Mormon arms and for Mor-
mons, and to bring them to the judgment, where
they received their doom from the mouth of
Brockman, who then sat, a grim and unawed
tyrant, for the time. As a general rule, the Mor-
mons were ordered to leave within an hour or two

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 45

* hours ; and by rare grace some of them were
" allowed until next day, and in a few cases, longer.

" The treaty specified that the Mormons only
" should be driven into exile. Nothing was said in
" it concerning the new citizens who had, with the
" Mormons, defended the city. But the posse no
" sooner obtained possession than they commenced
" expelling the new citizens. Some of them were
" ducked in the river, being, in one or two instances,
" actually baptized in the name of the leaders of
" the mob ; others were forcibly driven into the
" ferry boats, to be taken over the river before the
" bayonets of armed ruffians : and it is asserted that
" the houses of most of them were broken open and

* their property stolen during their absence.

" The Mormons had been forced away from their
" houses unprepared for their journey ; they and
" their women and children had been thrown house-
u less upon the Iowa shore, without provisions or
" the means of getting them, or to get to places
" where provisions might be obtained. It was now
" the height of the sickly season. Many of them
" were taken from sick beds, hurried into the boats
" and driven away by armed ruffians now exercising
" the power of government. The best they could
" do was to erect their tents on the bank of the
" river, and there remain to take their chances of
" perishing by hunger or by prevailing sickness. In
" this condition the sick, without shelter, food, nour-
" ishment, or^nedicines, died by scores. The mother
" watched the sick babe without hope, and when it
" sank under accumulated miseries, it was only to
' l be quickly followed by her other children, now

146 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

" left without the least attention, for the men had
1 scattered out over the country seeking employ-
" ment and the means of living."

The Governor also describes the mob commander-
in-chief as " a Campbellite preacher, nominally be-
" longing to the democratic party, a large, awkward >
" uncouth, ignorant, semi-barbarian, ambitious of
" office and bent upon acquiring notoriety." The
very picture of this man, from the pen of the Execu-
tive of the State, at the head of, what the army of
regulators assuredly must have considered them-
selves, the better people of the State, compared
with the Mormons, at that time, in their exodus
under Brigham Young, raising their battalion for
the service of their country, gives such a strong
contrast that the reader, however much indisposed,
cannot but be provoked to admiration of the latter.

But the most eloquent and graphic picture of
those days and scenes is from the historical dis-
course of Thomas L. Kane, without which no story,
of the Mormon exodus would be complete. He
said :

" A few years ago, ascending the Upper Missis-
" sippi, in the Autumn, when its waters were low,
" I was compelled to travel by land past the region
" of the rapids. My road lay through the half-breed
" tract, a fine section of Iowa which the unsettled
" state of its land-titles had appropriated as a
" sanctuary for coiners, horse thieves, and other
"outlaws. I had left my steamer at Keokuk, at the
" foot of the lower fall, to hire a carriage, and to
11 contend for some fragments of a dirty meal with
" the swarming flies, the only scavengers of the

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 147

" locality. From this place to where the deep
" waters of the river return, my eye wearied to see
" everywhere sordid vagabonds and idle settlers ;
" and a country marred, without being improved, by
" their careless hands.

" I was descending the last hill-side upon my
" journey, when a landscape in delightful contrast
11 broke upon my view. Half encircled by the bend
" of the river, a beautiful city lay glittering in the
" fresh morning sun ; its bright new dwellings, set
" in cool green gardens, ranging up around a stately
" dome-shaped hill which was crowned by a noble
" marble edifice whose high tapering spire was radi-
" ant with white and gold. The city appeared to
" cover several miles ; and beyond it, in the back-
" ground, there rolled off a fair country, chequered
" by the careful lines of fruitful husbandry. The.
" unmistakable marks of industry, enterprise, and
" educated wealth everywhere, made the scene one
" of singular and most striking beauty.

11 It was a natural impulse to visit this inviting
" region. I procured a skiff, and, rowing across the
" river, landed at the chief wharf of the city. No
" one met me there. I looked and saw no one. I
" could hear no one move, though the quiet every-
" where was such that I heard the flies buzz, and
" the water-ripples break against the shallow of the
" beach. I walked through the solitary streets. The
" town lay as in a dream, under some deadening
" spell of loneliness, from which I almost feared to
" wake it ; for plainly it had not slept long. There
" was no grass growing up in the paved ways ; rains
" had not entirely washed away the prints of dusty
" footsteps.

I48 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

" Yet I went about unchecked. I went into
" empty workshops, ropewalks and smithies. The
" spinner's wheel was idle ; the carpenter had gone
"" from his work-bench and shavings, his unfinished
" sash and casing. Fresh bark was in the tanner's
" vat, and the fresh-chopped lightwood stood piled
*' against the baker's oven. The blacksmith's shop
" was cold ; but his coal heap, and ladling pool, and
"" crooked water-horn were all there as if he had
"" just gone off for a holiday. No workpeople any-
*' where looked to know my errand. If I went into
" the gardens, clinking the wicket-latch after me,
*" to pull the marigolds, heart's-ease and ladyslippers,
"" and draw a drink with the water-sodden water-
u bucket and its noisy chain, or knocking off with
" my stick the tall heavy-headed dahlias and sun-
" flowers, hunting over the beds for cucumbers and
" love-apples ; no one called out to me from any
H< open window, or dog sprang forward to bark an
" alarm. I could have supposed the people hidden
" in their houses, but the doors were unfastened ;
"" and when at last I timidly entered them, I found
" dead ashes white upon the hearths, and had to
" tread a-tiptoe, as if walking down the aisle of a
" country church, to avoid rousing irreverent echoes
" from the naked floors.

" On the outskirts of the town was the city grave-
"" yard ; but there was no record of plague there ;
■" nor did it in anywise differ much from other Pro-
" testant American cemeteries. Some of the
" mounds were not long sodded ; some of the
u stones were newly set, their dates recent, and their
" black inscriptions glossy in the mason's hardly

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 49

dried letter-ink. Beyond the graveyards, out in
the fields, I saw on a spot hard by where the fruit-
ed boughs of a young orchard had been roughly
torn down, the still smouldering remains of a bar-
becue fire, that had been constructed of rails from
the fencing round it. It was the latest sign of life
there. Fields upon fields of heavy headed yellow
grain lay rotting ungathered upon the ground.
No one was at hand to take in their rich harvest.
As far as the eye could reach, they stretched
away — they sleeping, too, in the hazy air of
Autumn.

" Only two portions of the city seemed to suggest
the import of this mysterious solitude. On the
southern suburb, the houses looking out upon the
country showed, by their splintered woodwork,
and walls battered to the foundation, that they
had lately been the mark of a destructive cannon-
ade. And in and around the splendid temple
which had been the chief object of my admira-
tion, armed men were barracked, surrounded by
their stacks of musketry and pieces of heavy
ordnance. These challenged me to render an
account of myself, and why I had had the temerity
to cross the water without a written permit from
a leader of their band.

" Though these men were generally more or less
under the influence of ardent spirits, after I had.
explained myself as a passing stranger, they
seemed anxious to gain my good opinion. They
told the story of the dead city ; that it had been
a notable manufacturing and commercial mart,
sheltering over 20,000 persons ; that they had

150 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

waged war with its inhabitants for several years,
and been finally successful only a few days before
my visit, in an action brought in front of the
ruined suburb, after which they had driven them
forth at the point of the sword. The defence,
they said, was obstinate, but gave way on the
third day's bombardment. They boasted greatly
of their prowess, especially in this battle as they
called it ; but I discovered that they were not of
one mind as to certain of the exploits that had
distinguished it ; one of which, as I remember,
was, that they had slain a father and his son, a
boy of fifteen, not long residents of the fated city,
whom they admitted had borne a character with-
out reproach.

11 They also conducted me inside the massive
sculptured walls of the curious temple, in which
they said the banished inhabitants were accus-
tomed to celebrate the mystic rites of an unhal-
lowed worship. They particularly pointed out to
me certain features of the building, which having
been the peculiar objects of a former superstitious
regard, they had, as a matter of duty, sedulously
defiled and defaced. The reputed sites of certain
shrines they had thus particularly noticed ; and
various sheltered chambers, in one of which was
a deep well, constructed, they believed, with a
dreadful design. Besides these, they led me to
see a large and deep chiseled marble vase or
basin, supported by twelve oxen, also of marble,
and of the size of life, of which they told some
romantic stories. They said the deluded persons,
most of whom were emigrants from a great dis-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 151

" tance, believed their deity countenanced their re-
" ception here of a baptism of regeneration, as
" proxies for whomsoever they held in warm affection
" in the countries from which they had come. That
" here parents went into the water for their spouses,
" and young persons for their lovers. That thus the
" great vase came, to be for them associated with all
" dear and distant memories, and was, therefore, the
" object of all others in the building to which they
" attached the greatest degree of idolatrous affec-
" tion. On this account the victors had so diligently
" desecrated it, as to render the apartment in which
" it was contained too noisome to abide in.

" They permitted me also to ascend into the
" steeple to see where it had been lightning-struck
" on the Sabbath before, and to look out east and
" south, on wasted farms like those I had seen near
" the city, extending till they were lost in the dis-
" tance. There, in the face of the pure day, close
" by the scar of divine wrath left by the thunder-
" bolt, were fragments of food, cruises of liquor, and
11 broken drinking vessels, with a brass drum and a
" steamboat signal-bell, of which I afterwards
" learned with pain.

" It was after nightfall when I was ready to cross
" the river on my return. The wind had freshened
" since the sunset, and the water beating roughly
" into my little boat, I hedged higher up the stream
* l than the point I had left in the morning, and
" landed where a faint glimmering light invited me
" to steer. (

" There, among the dock and rushes, sheltered
" only by the darkness, without roof between them

152 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

'" and sky, I came upon a crowd of several hundred

I human creatures, whom my movements roused
'' from uneasy slumber upon the ground.

" Passing these on my way to the light, I found

II it came from a tallow candle in a paper funnel
<; shade, such as is used by street venders of apples
" and peanuts, and which, flaming and guttering
'' away in the bleak air off the water, shone flicker-
" ingly on the emaciated features of a man in the
" last stage of a bilious remittent fever. They had
" done their best for him. Over his head was some-
" thing like a tent, made of a sheet or two, and he
" rested on a partially ripped open old straw mat-
" tress, with a hair sofa-cushion under his head for a
" pillow. His gaping jaw and glaring eye told how
" short a time he would monopolize these luxuries ;
" though a seemingly bewildered and excited per-
" son, who might have been his wife, seemed to find
" hope in occasionally forcing him to swallow awk-
" wardly sips of the tepid river-water, from a burned
" and battered, bitter-smelling tin coffee-pot. Those
" who knew better had furnished the apothecary he
" needed ; a toothless old bald head, whose manner
" had the repulsive dullness of a man familiar with
" death scenes. He, so long as I remained, mum-
" bled in his patient's ear a monotonous and melan-
" choly prayer, between the pauses of which I heard
" the hiccup and sobbing of two little girls who
" were sitting upon a piece of driftwood outside.

" Dreadful, indeed, was the suffering of these for-
" saken beings, bowed and cramped by cold" and
" sunburn, alternating as each weary day and night
" dragged on. They were, almost all of them, the

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 53

" crippled victims of disease. They were there
" because they had no homes, nor hospital, nor
" poor house, nor friends to offer them any. They
" could not satisfy the feeble cravings of their sick ;
" they had not bread to quiet the fractious hunger-
" cries of their children. Mothers and babes, daugh-
" ters and grandparents, all of them alike, were
11 bivouacked in tatters, wanting even covering to
" comfort those whom the sick shiver of fever was
" searching to the marrow.

" These were Mormons in Lee County, Iowa, in
11 the fourth week of the month of September, in
" the year of our Lord 1846. The city — it was
" Nauvoo, Illinois. The Mormons were the owners
" of that city, and the smiling country around. And
11 those who had stopped their plows, who had
" silenced their hammers, their axes, their shuttles,
" and their workshop wheels ; those who had put
" out their fires, who had eaten their food,, spoiled
" their orchards, and trampled under foot their thous-
11 ands of acres of unharvested bread — these were
'• the keepers of their dwellings, the carousers in
" their temple, whose drunken riot insulted the ears
" of the dying.

" I think it was as I turned from the wretched
" night watch of which I have spoken, that I first
11 listened to the sounds of revel of a party of the
" guard within the city. Above the distant hum of
" the voices of many, occasionally rose distinct the
" loud oath-tainted exclamation, and the falsely In-
" tonated scrap of vulgar song ; but lest this requiem
" should go unheeded, every now and then, when
" their boisterous orgies strove to attain a sort of

154

LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ) OR,

ecstatic climax, a cruel spirit of insulting frolic
carried some of them up into the high belfry of
the Temple steeple, and there, with the wicked
childishness of inebriates, they whooped, and
shrieked, and beat the drum that I had seen, and
rang, in charivaric unison, their loud-tongued
steamboat bell.

" There were, all told, not more than six hundred
and forty persons who were thus lying upon the
river flats. But the Mormons in Nauvoo and its
dependencies had been numbered the year before
at over twenty thousand. Where were they ?
They had last been seen, carrying in mournful
train their sick and wounded, halt and -blind, to
disappear behind the western horizon, pursuing
the phantom of another home. Hardly anything
else was known of them ; and people asked with
curiosity, what had been their fate — what their
fortune."

•"\

CHAPTER X.

THE JOURNEY OF THE PIONEERS TO THE MOUNTAINS.
THEIR FIRST SIGHT OF THE PROMISED LAND.

Return we now to the main body of the Saints,
to see what their fate had been, and to pursue the
journey with them to the mountains.

At the close of the day on which he left Mount
Pisgah, Wilford Woodruff, describing the grand
spectacle of the exodus, wrote in his journal thus :
" I stopped my carriage on the top of a rolling
" prairie, where I had a fine view. I could stand
" and gaze to the east and west, north and south,
" and behold the Saints pouring out and gathering
11 like clouds from the hills and dales, groves and
" prairies, with the teams, wagons, flocks and herds,
11 by hundreds and thousands. It looked like the
" moving of a nation ! "

11 The moving of a nation ! " It is a graphic pic-
ture in a touch. It was now more than ever this,
for the remnant from Nauvoo had been driven
toward the west. The Saints also in Europe, as
well as those in the Eastern States, were looking to
their leader to found for them another Zion to
which they might gather.

Brigham moved not as a captain at the head of a
mere band of pioneers, but in every thing he well

I56 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

sustained the character of a Moses. He established
his people on the route in organized " Stakes of
Zion." They were journeying towards the moun-
tains as a line of cities, and not as emigrant camps.
Indeed, they were called " Traveling Stakes of
Zion." It was a novel name— a novel idea — this of
traveling cities, but peculiarly empire-founding, and
very like Brigham Young, the founder of two
hundred and fifty cities.

Out of an absolute destitution, and in spite of
their expulsion, the Mormons had flourished and
increased in the wilderness, so that at the end of
the year 1846, winter quarters had grown into
twenty-two wards, with a bishop over each.

As the Spring opened, they began to prepare for
their journey to the mountains, which at that day
was almost appalling to the imagination. They had
still over a thousand miles to the valley of the Salt
Lake, and so little was known of the country any
more than its name implied — the Great American
Desert — that the Mormons could not look forward
to much of a land of promise to repay them for all
the past. Yet sang their poet, Eliza R. Snow,
who has ever on their great occasions fired them
with her Hebraic inspiration :

" The time of winter now is o'er,
There's verdure on the plain ;
We leave oar shelt'ring roofs once more,
And to our tents again.

Chorus: — O Camp of Israel, onward move,
O, Jacob, rise and sing ;
Ye Saints the world's salvation prove,
All hail to Zion's King ! "

The pioneer song (as it was called) was, like
their journey, quite lengthy. But the pioneers sang

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. I 57

It with a will. It told them of their past; told
them in exultation, that they were leaving the
" mobbing gentile race, who thirsted for their blood,
" to rest in Jacob's hiding place," and it told of the
future, in prophetic strains; for " Sister Eliza" is a
rare prophet as well as a poet.

The word and will of the Lord concerning the
Camp of Israel in its journeyings to the West, was
published from head-quarters, on the 14th of Janu-
ary, 1847. As it is the first written revelation ever
sent out to the Church by President Young, the
following passage from it will be read with interest :

" Let all the people of the Church of Jesus Christ
" of Latter-day Saints, and those who journey with
" them, be organized into companies, with a cove-
" nant and promise to keep all the commandments
11 and statutes of the Lord our God. Let the com-
11 panies be organized with captains of hundreds, and
" captains of fifties, and captains of tens, with a
" president and councilor at their head, under the
u direction of the Twelve Apostles ; and this shall
" be our covenant, that we will walk in all the ordi-
" nances of the Lord.

" Let each company provide itself with all the
" teams, wagons, provisions and all other necessaries
" for the journey that they can. When the com-
" panies are organized, let them go to with all their
" might, to prepare for those who are to tarry. Let
" each company, with their captains and presidents,
" decide how many can go next spring ; then choose
" out a sufficient number of able-bodied and expert
u men to take teams, seed, and farming utensils to
u go as pioneers to prepare for putting in the Spring

I58 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

" crops. Let each company bear an equal propor-
" tion, according to the dividend of their property,.
" in taking the poor, the widows, and the fatherless,
«' and the families of those who have eone with the
" army, that the cries of the widow and the father-
" less come not up into the ears of the Lord against
" his people.

11 Let each company prepare houses, and fields for
" raising corn for those who are to remain behind
" this season ; and this is the will of the Lord con-
" cerning this people.

" Let every man use all his influence and property
" to remove this people to the place where the Lord
" shall locate a Stake of Zion ; and if ye do this
" with a pure heart, with all faithfulness, ye shall be
11 blessed in your flocks, and in your herds, and in
" your fields, and in your houses, and in your
" families. * * *

" Seek ye, and keep all your pledges one with
" another, and covet not that which is thy brother's.
" Keep yourselves from evil ; take not the name of
" the Lord God in vain, for I am the Lord your
11 God, even the God of your fathers — the God of
11 Abraham, Isaac and of Jacob. I am he who led
" the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,
11 and my arm is stretched out in the last days to
" save my people Israel. * * *

" Have I not delivered you from enemies only in
«' that I have left the witness of my name ? Now,
" therefore, hearken, oh ye people of my church,
" and ye elders listen together. You have received
" my kingdom ; be diligent in keeping all my com-
11 mandments, lest judgment come upon you, and

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 59

" your faith fail you, and your enemies triumph
11 over you. Amen, and Amen."

On the 7th of April, 1847, the day after the
general conference, the pioneers started from winter
quarters.

As soon as they got fairly on the journey, they
were organized as a military body, into companies
of hundreds, fifties and tens. The following order
of the officers will illustrate :

Brigham Young, lieut.-general ; Stephen Mark-
ham, colonel; John Pack, 1st major; Shadrach
Roundy, 2d major ; captains of hundreds, Stephen
Markham and A. P. Rockwood.

Captain of Company 1, Wilford Woodruff; Com-
pany 2, Ezra T. Benson ; Company 3, Phineas H.
Young; Company 4, Luke Johnson; Company 5,
Stephen H. Goddard ; Company 6, Charles Shum-
way,; w Company 7, James, Case; Company 8, Seth
Taft ; Company 9, Howard Egan ; Company iO }
Appleton M. Harmon ; Company 11, John Higbie;
Company^ 12, Norton Jacobs; Company 13, John
Brown ; Company 14, Joseph Mathews.

The camp consisted of j^> wagons, 143 men,
3 women and two children — 148 souls. ,.

Nothing could better illustrate the perfection of
Mormon organization than this example of the
pioneers, for they were apostles and picked elders
of minute companies, and under strict discipline.

" Lieut.-General Young" issued general orders to
the regiment. The men were ordered to travel in
a compact body, being in an Indian country; every
man to carry his gun loaded, the locks to be shut
on a piece of buckskin, with caps ready in case of

l6o LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

attack; flint locks, with cotton and powder flask

handy, and every man to walk by the side of his
wagon, under orders not to leave it, unless sent by
the officer in command, and the wagons to be
formed two abreast, where practicable, on the march.
At the call of the bugle in the morning, at five
o'clock, the pioneers were to arise, assemble for
prayers, get breakfast, and be ready to start at the
second call of the bugle at seven. At night, at half-
past eight, at the command from the bugle, each
w r as to retire for prayer in his own wagon, and to
bed at nine o'clock. Tents were to be pitched on
Saturday nights and the Sabbath kept.

A God-fearing people, without hypocrisy or cant,
the Mormons have been, in every scene and every
day of their eventful career. Cromwell's famous
order, " Trust in God, but keep your powder dry,"
was never better exemplified than by these pioneers.
Indeed, none ever so well understood this maxim
as did these Mormon elders.

The course of the pioneers was up the north bank
of the Platte, along which they traveled slowly.
They crossed Elk Horn on a raft, forded the Loup
Fork with considerable danger in consequence of
the quicksands, and reached Grand Island about the
ist of May.

This was the day on which the pioneers had their
first buffalo hunt. There was much exciting interest
in the scene, for scarcely one of the hunters had
chased a buffalo before. They killed four cows,
three bulls, and five calves.

While on a hunt, several days after, the hunters
were called in, a party of 400 Indian warriors near

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. l6l

by having showed signs of an attack. The Indians
had previously been threatening, and were setting
fire to the prairie on the north side of the Platte.
The pioneers fired their cannon twice to warn the
Indians that they were on the watch.

A council was now held to consider whether or
not it were wise to cross the river and strike the old
road to Laramie, there being good grass on that
side, while the Indians were burning it on the north.
In view, however, of the thousands who would fol-
low in their track, it was concluded to continue as.
before, braving the Indians and the burning prairies ;
for, said the pioneers :

" A new road will thus be made, which shall stand
" as a permanent route for the Saints, independent
" of the old route, and the river will separate the
" Mormon companies from other emigrants, so that
" they need not quarrel for wood, grass or water,
" and fresh grass will soon grow for our companies
41 to follow us this season."

Thus the pioneers broke a new road across the
plains, over which tens of thousands of their people
have since traveled, and which was famous as the
" old Mormon road," till the railway came to blot
almost from memory the toils and dangers of a
journey of more than a thousand miles, by ox
teams, to the valleys of Utah. (It is a curious fact
that for several hundred miles the grade of the
great trans-continental railway is made exactly upon
the old Mormon road).

The pioneers were wary. Colonel Markham
drilled his men in good military style, and the
cannon was put on wheels.

1 62 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

William Clayton, formerly the scribe of the Pro-
phet, and, in the pioneer journey, scribe to President
Young, and Willard Richards, the Church historian,
invented a machine to measure the distance.

General Young himself marked the entire route,
going in advance daily with his staff. This service .;
was deemed most important, as their emigrations
would follow almost in the very footprints of the
pioneers.

Those were days for the buffalo hunt, scarcely to
be imagined, when crossing the plains a quarter of
a century later. Some days they saw as many as
fifty thousand buffalo.

They came to the hunting ground of the Sioux,
where, a few days before, five hundred lodges had
stood. Nearly a thousand warriors had encamped
there. They had been on a hunting expedition. .
Acres of ground were covered with buffalo wool
and other remains of the slaughter. No wonder
the Indian of the plains bemoans his hunting
grounds, now lost to him forever.

Several days later there were again fears of an
Indian attack, and the cannon was got ready.

The pioneers were within view of Chimney Rock
on Sunday, the 23d of May. Here they held their
usual Sabbath service. Erastus Snow preached,
followed by President Young. The President said
he had never seen a people more united than this
camp had been, and promised them that they should
pluck the fruit of this mission to all eternity. He
had many things to teach them, but could do it only
in a stake of Zion ; he was well satisfied with him-
self, his brethren of the Twelve, and with the pioneers

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 6

v>

generally ; he knew the Lord was with them, and
that He was leading them ; to the praise of all, he
would say, that not a man of them would refuse to
obey his counsel. His peace with God was continu-
ally like a river, and he felt that the spirit of peace
rested upon the whole camp.

On the first of June they were opposite Laramie.
Here they were joined by a small company of Mor-
mons from Mississippi, who had been at Pueblo
during the Winter. They reported news of a de-
tachment of the battalion at Pueblo that expected
to start for Laramie about the first of June, and
follow the pioneer track. This addition to the
camp consisted of a brother Crow and his family
(14 souls, with seven wagons).

The next day President Young and others visited
Fort Laramie, then occupied by 38 persons, mostly
French, who had married the Sioux.

Mr. Burdow, the principal man at the Fort, was a
Frenchman. He cordially received President Young
and his staff, invited them into his sitting-room,
gave them information of the route, and furnished
them with a flat-bottom boat on reasonable terms
to assist them in ferrying the Platte. Ex-Governor
Boggs, who had recently passed with his company,
had said much against the Mormons, cautioning Mr
Burdow to take care of his horses and cattle. Boggs
and his company were quarreling, many having de-
serted him ; so Burdow told that old anti-Mormon
that, let the Mormons be what they might, they
could not be worse than himself and his men.

It is not a little singular that this exterminating
Governor of Missouri should have been crossing

164 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

the Plains at the same time with the pioneers.
They were going to carve out for their people a
greater destiny than they could have reached either
in Missouri or Illinois — he to pass away, leaving
nothing but the infamy of his name.

It was decided to send Amasa Lyman, with
several other brethren, to Pueblo, to meet the de-
tachment of the battalion, and hurry them on to
Laramie to follow the track.

At the old Fort they set up blacksmith shops,
and did some necessary work for the camp. Then
commenced the ascent of the Black Hills, on the
4th of June.

Fifteen miles from Laramie, at the Springs, a
company of Missouri emigrants came up. The
pioneers kept the Sabbath the next day ; the Mis-
sourians journeyed. Another company of Missou-
rians appeared.

A party of traders, direct from Santa Fe, overtook
the pioneers, and gave information of the detach-
ment of the battalion, at Santa Fe, under Capt.
Brown.

The two Missouri companies kept up a warfare
between themselves on the route. They were a
suggestive example to the Mormons. After they
had traveled near each other for a week, on the
Sunday following the President made this the sub-
ject of his discourse. He said of the two Missou-
rian companies :

11 They curse, swear, rip and tear, and are trying
" to swallow up the earth ; but though they do not
" wish us to have a place on it, the earth might as
41 well open and swallow them up ; for they will go

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 65

" to the land of forgetfulnessy while the Saints,
11 though they suffer some privations here, if faith-
" ful, will ultimately inherit the earth, and increase
" in power, dominion and glory."

General Young called together the officers, to
consult on a plan for crossing the river. He direct-
ed them to gtf immediately to the mountains with
teams, to get poles. They were then to lash from
two to four wagons abreast, to keep them from
turning over, and float them across the river with
boats and ropes ; so a company of horsemen started
to the mountains with teams.

The " brethren " had previously ferried over the
Missourians, who paid them $1.50 for each wagon
and load, and paid it in flour at $2.50; yet flour was
worth ten dollars per cwt, at least, at that point.
They divided their earnings among the camp equally.
It amounted to five and a half pounds of flour each,
two pounds of meal, and a small piece of bacon.

" It looked," says Wilford Woodruff, " as much of
" a miracle to me to see our flour and meal bags
" replenished in the Black Hills as it did to have
" the Children of Israel fed with manna in the wil-
" derness. But the Lord had been truly with us on
" our journey, and had wonderfully preserved and
11 blessed us."

These little stores of flour were supposed to have
saved the life of some of the pioneers, for they
were by this time entirely destitute of the " staff of
" life."

The pioneers were seven days crossing the river
•at this point. While here they established a ferry,.
and selected nine men to leave in charge of it, with

1 66 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

instructions to divide the means accumulated
equally, to be careful of the lives and property of
those they ferried, to " forget not their prayers,"
and " to come on with the next company of
41 Saints."

They reached Independence Rock on the 21st of
June, and the South Pass on the 26th.

Several days later they met Major Harris, who
had traveled through Oregon and California for
twenty-five years. He spoke unfavorably of the
Salt Lake country for a settlement.

Next day Col. Bridger came up. He desired to
go into council with the Mormon leaders. The
apostles held the council with the colonel. He
spoke more favorably of the great basin ; but
thought it not prudent to continue emigration there
until they ascertained whether grain would grow
there or not. He said he would give a thousand
dollars for the first bushel of wheat raised in the
valley of the Salt Lake.

At Green River they were met by Elder Samuel
Brannan from the Bay of San Francisco. He came
to give an account of the Mormon company that
sailed with him in the ship Brooklyn. They had
established themselves two hundred miles up the
river, were building up a city, and he had already
started a newspaper.

They were several days fording Green River.
Here the pioneers kept the 4th of July.

The Mormon battalion now began to reinforce
the pioneers. Thirteen of these soldiers, returning
from the service* of their country, joined them at
Green River, and reported that a whole detachment
of 140 were within seven days' drive.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS.. 167

As the pioneers approached the valley of the
Great Salt Lake, the interest became intense. The
gold-finders of California, and the founders of the
Pacific States and Territories generally, had but a
fever for precious metals, or were impelled westward
by the migrating spirit of the American people ;
but these Mormon pioneers were seeking the
" Pearl of Great Price," and their thoughts and emo-
tions, as they drew near the Salt Lake Valley were
akin to those of the Pilgrim Fathers as they came
in sight of Plymouth Rock.

During the last days of the journey, President
Young was laid up with the " mountain fever," from
which he did not fully recover till on the return trip
to winter quarters.

After passing Bear River, a council of the whole
was called, and it was resolved that Apostle Orson
Pratt should take a company of about twenty
wagons, with forty men, to go forward and make a
road. Twenty-three wagons started the next
morning.

A few simple but graphic passages from the diary
of Apostle Woodruff, will illustrate the entrance of
the pioneers into the valleys of Utah, better than an
authors imagination.

" July 20th. — We started early this morning, and
41 stopped for breakfast after a five miles' drive. I
41 carried Brother Brigham in my carnage. The
" fever was still on him, but he stood the ride well.
" After breakfast we traveled over ten miles of the
" worst road of the whole journey.

" 21st.- — We are compelled to lay over in conse-
" quence of the sick.

1 68 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

" 22d. — Continued our journey.

" 23d. — We left East Canyon ; reached the sum-
" mit of the mountain, and descended six miles
" through a thick-timbered grove. We nooned at a
" beautiful spring in a small birch grove. Here we
" were met by Brothers Pack and Mathews from the
" advance camps. They brought us a dispatch.
" The brethren had explored the Great Salt Lake
" Valley, as far as possible, and made choice of a
" spot to put in crops.

"July 24th. — This is one of the most important
" days of my life, and in the history of the Church
" of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

" After traveling six miles through a deep ravine
" ending with the canyon, we came in full view of
" the valley of the Great Salt Lake ; the land of
" promise, held in reserve by God, as a resting place
" for his Saints.

" We gazed in wonder and admiration upon the
" vast valley before us, with the waters of the Great
" Salt Lake* glistening in the sun, mountains tower-
" ing to the skies, and streams of pure water running
" through the beautiful valley. It was the grandest
" view that we had ever seen till this moment.
" Pleasant thoughts ran through our minds at the
" prospect that, not many years hence, the house
" of God would be established in the mountains and
" exalted above the hills ; while the valleys would
" be converted into orchards, vineyards, and fruitful
"-fields, cities erected to the name of the Lord, and
" the standard of Zion unfurled for the gathering of
" the nations.

" President Young expressed his entire satisfaction

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 69

11 at the appearance of the valley, as a resting place
" for the Saints, and felt amply repaid for his jour-
" ney. While lying upon his bed, in my carriage,
" gazing upon the scene before us, many things of
" the future concerning the valley were shown to
" him in vision.

" After gazing awile upon this scenery, we moved
" four miles across the table land into the valley, to
11 the encampment of our brethren who had arrived
11 two days before us. They had pitched upon the
11 banks of two small streams of pure water and had
<; commenced ploughing. On our arrival they had
" already broken five acres of land, and had begun
" planting potatoes in the valley of the Great Salt
" Lake.

" As soon as our encampment was formed, before
" taking my dinner, having half a bushel of potatoes,
" I went to the ploughed field and planted them,
" hoping, with the blessing of God, to save at least
" the seed for another year.

" The brethren had dammed up one of the creeks
" and dug a trench, and by night nearly the whole
" ground, which was found very dry, was irrigated.

" Towards evening, Brothers Kimball, Smith,
" Benson and myself rode several miles up the
" creek (City Creek) into the mountain, to look for
" timber and see the country.

" There was a thunder shower, and it rained over
" nearly the whole valley; it v also rained a little in
" the fore-part of the night. We felt thankful for
" this, as it was the generally conceived opinion that
" it did not rain in the valley during the summer
" season."

t A

170 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

How well this arrival of the pioneers into their
" Land of Promise," illustrates the character of the
Mormon people. Empire founding on the first day ;
planting their fields before rest or dinner. Rain on
the day of Brighams arrival, a miracle of promise !
Already had his vision begun to be fulfilled !

CHAPTER XI.

THE FIRST SABBATH IN THE VALLEY. THE PIONEERS
APPLY THE PROPHECIES TO THEMSELVES AND
THEIR LOCATION. ZION. HAS GONE UP INTO THE
MOUNTAINS. THEY LOCATE THE TEMPLE AND
LAY OFF THE " CITY OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE."
THE LEADERS RETURN TO WINTER QUARTERS TO
GATHER THE BODY OF THE CHURCH. THEIR
SECOND ARRIVAL IN THE VALLEY. BRIGHAM

DECLARED THE LEADER OF ISRAEL.

How characteristically the Mormons commenced
their history in Utah as a God-fearing people !

The arrival of Brigham Young in the valley of
the Salt Lake was on a Saturday. The next day to
the pioneers was a Sabbath indeed.

"We shaved and cleaned up" (says Apostle
Woodruff, in his graphic story of the pioneers),
" and met in the circle of the encampment."

In the afternoon the whole " Congregation of
Israel " partpok of the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper.

Then the valleys rang with the exultant themes
of the Hebrew prophets, and the " Everlasting
Hills" reverberated the hosannas of the Saints.

Orson Pratt was the preacher of the great sub-
ject, which, to the ardent faith of those pioneers,

172 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

never lived in fulfillment till that moment. The
sublime flights of the matchless Isaiah gave the
principal theme.

" O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up
" into the high mountains ! "

But Isaiah is not alone in the culminating inspi-
ration. There is such a grand unity among the
Hebrew prophets, when touching this subject of a
Latter-day Zion, that, undoubtedly, it was the burden
of the divine epic to which the Hebraic genius
soared. Notwithstanding the mental diversity of
these poet-prophets, in this crowning theme, they
give us, not poetic fragments, but a glorious con-
tinued composition, as from a manifold genius.

" Thy watchmen shall lift up their voice ; with
" the voice together shall they sing ; and they shall
11 see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again
"Zion."

This was fulfilled to those Anglo-American pio-
neers that day. They were the watchmen ! With
the voice together they sang the theme, and did
literally shout their hosannas ; for the " Hosanna"
is a part of their Temple service. They saw eye to
eye. The Lord had brought again Zion !

Nor were these Mormon apostles figurative in
their applications ; they rendered most literally to
themselves, every point. Orson Pratt declared,
with an apostle's assurance, that their location, in
the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, was in the view
of the ancient seers. That which was before seem-
ingly contradictory in the extreme, relative to the
Latter-day Zion, especially its location and the
rapid transformation of its founding, was now made

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 73

plain and most literal. Apostle Pratt reconciled it
all. The pioneers saw the vision of Zion harmon-
ized on that first Sabbath in the valley, as they
might have seen their own faces in a mirror.

God would " hide his people in the chambers of
" the mountains ! " Yet, in these " last days," he
would " establish his house on the -tops of the
" mountains, and exalt it above the hills ! "

And here were these pioneers of Mormon Israel
in a valley nearly thirty miles in diameter, circled
by a chain of mountains ; here, in a valley nearly
five thousand feet above the level of the sea —
" exalted above the hills " — yet belted by mountains
with their everlasting caps of snow. It was indeed
as the " chambers of the Lord," and the name
which it popularly bore — the " Great Basin " — was
nearly as striking to the imagination as its prophetic
name.

Latter-day Zion, too, was to be a place " sought
" out " — a place " not forsaken." They had sought
it out by an exodus, and an unparalleled journey of
a people, nearly fifteen hundred miles, over un-
broken prairies, sandy deserts and rocky mountains ;
and they were about to found their Zion in a prime-
val valley, where no city, since the creation, had
ever stood — a place " not forsaken " by civilized
people of the ages long since dead. The " solitary
" places " were to be " made glad," the " wilderness"
was to " blossom as the rose," and the " desert "'
suddenly to be converted into the " fruitful field."
The pioneers had chosen for the location of their
Zion and her temples, the " Great American Desert,"
and they were about to make real the strange and

174 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

highly colored picture. So much like the change in
an enchanted scene has been the transformation
which has since come over those desert valleys and
canyons of the Rocky Mountains, that, for the last
quarter of a century, the Mormons have been popu-
larly described in nearly every nation of the earth
as that peculiar people who have made the " desert
" to blossom as the rose." Look upon the valley
of the Salt Lake to-day as Spring opens, when the
gardens and orchards are in one universal rose-
blossom, and there never was a prophetic picture
more literally realized.

But the prophecy most emphasized by these
Mormon apostles, and one, too, which they have
expected will be fulfilled most exactly, is by the
Prophet Micheas. (The Catholic version best
describes the Mormon expectation.)

" And it shall come to pass in the last days, that
" the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be
" prepared in the top of the mountains, and high
" above the hills ; and the people shall flow to it.

" And many nations shall come in haste, and say,
" come, let us go up to the mountains of the Lord,
" and to the house of the God of Jacob ; and he
" will teach us of his ways ; and we will walk in his
" paths ; for the law shall go forth out of Zion, and
" the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.

" And he shall judge among many people, and
" rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat
" their swords into plough shares, and thei * r pears
" into spades ; nation shall not take sword igainst
" nation ; neither shall they learn war any more.

" And every man shall sit under his vine, and

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. I 75

" under his fig tree ; and there shall be none to
" make them afraid ; for the mouth of the Lord of
" Hosts hath spoken."

This remarkable prophecy thousands have ex-
pected to be fulfilled during the lifetime of Brigham
Young. He is to be the " Mouth-piece " through
which " The Lord shall rebuke strong nations afar
" off"

Though feeble with that most languishing of dis-
eases, the mountain fever, and scarcely able to stand
upon his feet, Brigham was still the law-giver on
that first Sabbath. If he had not the strength to
preach a great sermon on the Latter-day Zion, like
that of the Mormon Paul — Orson Pratt — he was
" every inch " the Moses of the last days.

" He told the brethren," says the historian Wood-
ruff, " that they must not work on Sunday ; that
•' they would lose five times as much as they would
11 gain by it. None were to hunt or fish on that
11 day ; and there should not any man dwell among
" us who would not observe these rules. They
" might go and dwell where they pleased, but
" should not dwell with us. He also said, no man
" should buy any land who came here ; that he had
" none to sell ; but every man should have his land
"measured out to him for city and farming pur-
" poses. He might till it as he pleased, but he must
11 be industrious, and take care of it."

" On Monday ten men were chosen for an explor-
" ing expedition. I took President Young into my
" carriage, and, traveling two miles towards the
" mountain, made choice of a spot for our garden.

" We then returned to camp, and went nortli

I76 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

" about five miles, and we all went on to the top of a
" high peak, on the edge of the mountain, which we
" considered a good place to raise an ensign. So
" we named it ' Ensign Peak.'

11 I was the first person who ascended this hill,
" which we had thus named. Brother Young was
11 very weary, in climbing to the peak, from his re-
11 cent fever.

11 We descended to the valley, and started north
11 to the Hot Sulphur Springs, but we returned two
" miles to get a drink of cold water, and then went
" back four miles to the Springs. We returned to
" the camp quite weary with our day's explorations-
" Brothers Mathews and Brown had crossed the
" valley in the narrowest part, opposite the camp, to
" the west mountain, and ..found it about fifteen
" miles.

" Next day Amasa Lyman came into camp, and
" informed us that Capt. Brown's detachment of the
" Mormon battalion would be with us in about two
" days.

" We again started on our exploring expedition.
" All the members of the quorum of the Twelve
" belonging to the pioneers, eight in number, were
" of the company. Six others of the brethren, in-
" eluding Brannan of San Francisco, were with us.

" We started for the purpose of visiting the great
" Salt Lake, and mountains on the west of the valley.
" We traveled two miles west from Temple Block,
" and came to the outlet of the Utah Lake ; thence
" fourteen miles to the west mountain, and found
" that the land was not so fertile as on the east
" side.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. IJJ

" We took our dinner at the fresh water pool,
" and then rode six miles to a large rock, on the
" shore of the Salt Lake, which we named Black
" Rock, where we all halted and bathed in the salt
" water. No person could sink in it, but would roll
" and float on the surface like a dry log. We con-
" eluded that the Salt Lake was one of the wonders
" of the world.

" After spending an hour here, we went west
" along the lake shore, and then returned ten miles
" to our place of nooning, making forty miles that
" day.

"In the morning we arose refreshed by sleep
" in the open air. Having lost my carriage whip
" the night before, I started on horseback to go
" after it. As I approached the spot where it was
" dropped, I saw about twenty Indians. At first
" they looked to me in the distance like a lot of
" bears coming towards me. As I was unarmed I
" wheeled my horse and started back on a slow
11 trot.

" But they called to me, and one, mounting his
41 horse, came after me with all speed. When he
" got within twenty rods I stopped and met him.
" The rest followed. They were Utes, and wanted
" to trade. I told them by signs that our camp was
" near, so he went on with me to the camp. From
" what we had yet seen of the Utes they appeared
" friendly, though they had a bad name from the
" mountaineers. The Indian wanted to smoke the
" pipe of peace with us, but we soon started on and
" he waited for his company.

" We traveled ten miles south under the moun-

I yS LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

tain. The land laid beautifully, but there was no
water, and the soil was not so good as on the east.
We saw about a hundred goats, sheep and ante-
lope playing about the hills and valleys. We re-
turned, weary, to the pioneer encampment, making
thirty miles for the day.

" After our return to the camp, President Young
called a council of the quorum of the Twelve-
There were present : Brigham Young, Herbert
Kimball, Willard Richards, Orson Pratt, Wilford
Woodruff, George A. Smith, Amasa Lyman and
Ezra T. Benson.

" We walked from the north camp to about the
centre between the two creeks, when President
Young waved his hand and said : ' Here is the
' forty acres for the temple. The city can be laid
1 out perfectly square, north and south, east and
' west.' It was then moved and carried that the
temple lot contain forty acres on the ground where
we stood. It was also moved and carried that the
city be laid out into lots of ten rods by twenty
each, exclusive of the streets, and into blocks of
eight lots, being ten acres in each block, and one
and a quarter in each lot.

"It was further moved and carried that each
street be laid out eight rods wide, and that there
be a side-walk on each side, twenty feet wide, and
that each house be built in the centre of the lot
twenty feet from the front, that there might be
uniformity throughout the city.

" It was also moved that there be four public
squares of ten acres each, to be laid out in various
parts of the city for public grounds.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. I 79

" At eight o'clock the whole camp came together
" on the temple grpund and passed the votes unani-
" mously, and, when the business part of the meet-
" ing was closed, President Young arose and ad-
" dressed the assembly upon a variety of subjects.

" In his remarks the President said that he was
" determined to have all things in order, and right-
" eousness should be practiced in the land. We had
" come here according to the direction and counsel
" of Brother Joseph, before his death ; and, said the
" President, Joseph would still have been alive if
" the Twelve had been in Nauvoo when he re-
" crossed the river from Montrose.

" During his remarks, President Young observed
" that he intended to have every hole and corner
" from the Bay of San Francisco to Hudson Bay
" known to us.

" On the 29th, President Young, with a number
11 of brethren, mounted and started to meet the
" battalion detachment, under the command of Cap-
" tain Brown.

" We met some of them about four miles from
" camp; and soon afterwards met Captains Brown
" and Higgins, Lieutenant Willis, and the company^
" There were 140 of the battalion, and a company
" of about 100 of the Mississippi Saints, who came
" with them from Pueblo. They had with them 60
" wagons, 100 horses and mules, and 300 head of
" cattle, which greatly added to our strength.

" While we were in the canyon, a water cloud
" burst, which sent the water into the creeks from
" the mountains, with a rush and roar like thunder
" resembling the opening of a flood gate. The

l8o LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

41 shower spread over a good share of the valley
" where we settled.

" We returned at the head of the companies, and
" marched into camp with music. The battalion
" took up their quarters between our two camps on
" the bank of the creek.

" While we had been exploring the rest of the
u pioneers had been farming.

" By the ist of August (Sunday) the brethren
41 constructed the Bowery on Temple block, in which
u Heber C. Kimball was the first to preach. Orson
" Pratt followed in a discourse upon the prophecies
' of Isaiah, proving that the location of Zion in the
" mountains by our people was the fulfillment.

" On Monday we commenced laying out the city,
" beginning with the Temple block. In forming
" this block, 40 acres appeared so large, that a
" council was held to determine whether or not it
" would be wisdom to reduce it one-half. Not being
" decided in our views, we held council again,
" two days later, when we gave as our matured
" opinions that we could not do justice to 40 acres ;
" that 10 acres would be sufficient.

" As we were under the necessity of returning
" soon to winter quarters for the Saints, it was
*' thought best to go at once to the mountains for
" loes to build ourselves cabins, as the adobe houses
" might not be ready for our use.

" On the 6th of August, the Twelve were re-bap-
" tized. This we considered a privilege and a duty.
41 As we had come into a glorious valley to locate
" and build up Zion, we felt like renewing our cove-
41 nants before the Lord and each other. We soon

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. l8l

" repaired to the water, and President Young went
" down into the water and baptized all his brethren
il of the Twelve present. He then confirmed us,
" and sealed upon us our apostleship, and all the
" keys, powers and blessings belonging to that
" office. Brother Heber C. Kimball baptized and
" confirmed President Brigham Young. The follow-
" ing were the names and order of those present :
" Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt,
" Willard Richards, Wilford Woodruff, George A.
" Smith, and Amasa Lyman. Ezra T. Benson had
" been dispatched several days before to meet the
" companies on the road.

"In the afternoon of the next day, the Twelve
" went to the Temple block to select their inherit-
" ances.

11 President Young took a block east of the
" Temple, and running south-east, to settle his
" friends around him ; Heber C. Kimball; a block
" north of the Temple ; Orson Pratt, south and
" running south ; Wilford Woodruff, a block corner-
" ing Temple block, the south-west corner joining
11 Orson Pratt's ; Amasa Lyman took a block forty
" rods below Wilford Woodruff's ; George A. Smith,
11 one joining the Temple on the west, and running
" due west. It was supposed that Willard Richards
«' would take his on the east, near President Young's*
" None others of the Twelve were present in camp.

" During the same evening the Twelve went to
" City Creek, and Heber C. Kimball baptized fifty-
" five members of the camp, for the remission of
" their sins ; and they were confirmed under the
" hands of President Young, Orson Pratt, Wilford

1 82 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

" Woodruff, George A. Smith, and Amasa Lyman ;
" President Young being mouth.

" On the next day (Sunday, August 8th), the
" whole camp of Israel renewed their covenants
" before the Lord by baptism. There were two
" hundred and twenty-four baptized this morning,
" making two hundred and eighty-eight re-baptized
" in the last three days.

"In the afternoon we partook of the Sacrament-
" At the close of the meeting one hundred and ten
" men were called for, to go into the adobe yard,
" and seventy-six volunteered. ,

" Brother Crow had a child drowned on the i ith.

"On the 13th the Twelve held council. Each
" one was to make choice of the blocks that they
" were to settle their friends upon. President Young
" took the tiers of blocks south through the city ;
" Brother Kimball's runs north and north-west ;
" Orson Pratt, four blocks ; Wilford Woodruff, eight
" blocks ; George A. Smith, eight ; and Amasa
" Lyman, twelve blocks, according to the companies
" organized with each.

" Next day four of the messengers returned from
" Bear River and Cache Valley.

" They brought a cheering report of Cache Valley.
" The brethren also returned who went to Utah
" Lake for fish. They found a mountain of granite.

" The quorum of the Twelve decided in council
" that the name of the city should be the * City of
" ' the Great Salt Lake.'

" Sunday, August 15th, President Young preached
" on the death of Brother Crow's child ; a most in-
" teresting discourse, full of principle.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 83

" Sunday, the 2 2d, we held a general conference,
u when the public assembly resolved to call the city
" ' The City of the Great Salt Lake.'

"It was also voted to fence the city for farming
" purposes the coming year, and to appoint a Presi-
" dent and High Council, and all other officers
" necessary in this Stake of Zion, and that the
41 Twelve write an epistle to leave with the Saints in
" the valley. The conference then adjourned until
" the 6th of October, A. D. 1848.

" On the morning of the 26th of August, 1847,
*' the pioneers, with most of the returning members
11 of the Mormon battalion, harnessed their horses
" and bade farewell to the brethren who were to
" tarry. The soldiers were very anxious to meet
" their wives again, whom they had left by the way-
" side, without a moments notice, for their service
" in the war with Mexico. These being, too, the
" ' Young Men of Israel,' had left many newly wedded
" brides ; and not a few of those gallant fellows were
" fathers of first-born babes whom they had not yet
" seen.

" The brethren in the valley were placed under
" the presidency of the Chief Patriarch of the
" Church — Father John Smith, uncle of the Pro-
" phet. The members of the quorum of the Twelve
" Apostles Brigham took with him ; but he left reli-
" able, men, among whom was Albert Carrington,
" at the present date an apostle.

" There were a number of companies also on the
' road, under principal men and chief ' Captains of
" Israel,' such as apostles Parley P. Pratt and John
** Taylor, Bishop Hunter, Daniel Spencer, and

184 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

" Jedediah M. Grant, who was afterwards one of the
" first presidents of the Church.

" On the fourth day of their return journey, the
" pioneers were met by their messengers, under
'* Ezra T. Benson, whom President Young had sent
" forward with instructions to the outcoming com-

I panies. These messengers gladdened the hearts
" of the pioneers, with letters from their wives and
" brethren, and reported the coming ' Camp of
" Israel' as divided into nine companies, numbering
" 600 wagons.

" On the 3d of September, they met the first divi-
" sion of fifty, under President Daniel Spencer, upon
" the Big Sandy ; and, on the following day, on the
" Little Sandy, two more fifties, one under the com-
" mand of Captain Sessions and the other under
" Apostle Parley P. Pratt.

"In the afternoon, the quorum of the Twelve
" held a council, and. two of the Twelve were sharply
" rebuked, for undoing what the majority of the
" quorum had done in the organization of the camps
" for traveling. At first it was not received, but
" afterwards the error was confessed. President
" Young gave much instruction, and the power of
" God rested upon us. He said, if he did not tell
" us of our faults, we should be destroyed, but if we
" received necessary reproof, we should live in love>
" and our hearts would be cemented together.

" President Young said he felt eternity rest-
" ing upon him, and was weighed down to the
" earth with this work ; and that Brother Kimball
" felt it also more than any other man except him-

II self. He should chastise any one of the quorum

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 85

" when out of the way. He had done it for our
" good, and had been constrained to it by the power
" of God.

" Brother Kimball then addressed President
" Young :

" ' I want you Brother Brigham,' he said, ' to save
" ' yourself, for you are wearing down. I feel tender
" ' towards you to live, and if I and my brethren do
" ' wrong, tell us of it, and we will repent:

" They continued daily to meet the companies,
" Apostle Taylor bringing up his hundred on the
" Sweet Water. In this company was Edward
" Hunter, the present presiding Bishop of the whole
" Church. These brethren prepared a great feast
" in the wilderness. They made it a sort of a sur-
" prise party, the pioneers being unexpectedly in-
" troduced to the richly-laden table. The feast con-
" sisted of roast and boiled beef, pies, cakes, biscuit,,
" butter, peach sauce, coffee, tea, sugar, and^a great
" variety of good things. In the evening the camp
" had a dance, but the Twelve met in council to* ad-
just important business.

" Next day they met Jedediah M. Grant, with his
" hundred. He was direct from Philadelphia. He
" informed them that Senator Thomas Benton, the
" inveterate enemy of the Mormons, was doing all
" he could against them.

" Early the next morning the alarm was given
" that their horses were stolen. Bells were found
" cut from the horses, the lariats cut, an arrow was
" picked up, and other Indian signs discovered.
" The trail was finally struck, and a company of
" twenty horsemen started after the Indians.

1 86 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

" It looked gloomy to see so many women and
l( children there in the mountains with their horses
" and cattle stolen, and breaking down so late in the
" season.

" During the evening two of the brethren who
" had been in the pursuit returned, bringing back
" five of the horses.

" Next morning we parted from our friends, who
" were going west, and those of us who had not
" lost horses divided with those who had. As we
" journeyed on we met the remainder of our breth-
11 ren returning from the pursuit, but they had not
" recovered any more of our horses ; the Indians
11 had escaped with forty-three of them.

" Two weeks later we had another immensely ex-
" citing Indian fray. About nine in the morning
" the call was made to get our horses, when sud-
" denly reports of firearms were heard, in quick
" succession, with cries from the guard of, ' Indians !
" ' Indians ! '

"?In less than a minute the timber and bluffs were
" lined with mounted Indians, charging with all
" speed upon the guard houses and camp. They
" numbered quite two hundred warriors.

" The brethren returned the fire, broke the In-
" dian charge, and gave chase, seeing which, the old
" chief shouted to his band and proclaimed peace
" to the pioneers, telling the latter that they were
" good Sioux and that they had taken them for
" Crows or Snakes. He proposed the smoking of
" the pipe of peace between the Mormons and his
" warriors, and wanted the big chief of his Mormon
" brothers to go to his camp.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 87

" This the brethren would not permit ; but Heber
" C. Kimball, Colonel Markham and Apostle Wood-
" ruff went in the President's stead, for the pioneers
'■ were desirous to cultivate the friendship of the
" Indians for the sake of their emigrations across
" the plains. They obtained from the Indians some
" of their stolen horses.

" At Fort Laramie President Young, Kimball and
" others of the apostles dined with Commodore
11 Stockton, from the Bay of San Francisco, with
" forty of his men, eastward bound.

11 On the 19th of October, the pioneers were, met
" by a troop of mounted police from winter
" quarters, under their captain, Hosea Stout, who
" had come to meet them, thinking they might need
" help."

As they drew near winter quarters, the sisters,
mothers and wives came out to meet the brave men
who had found for them a second Zion. They also
sent teams laden with the richest produce of winter
quarters and the delicacies of the household table*
which loving hands had prepared.

When within about a mile of winter quarters a
halt was called ; the company was drawn up in order
and addressed by President Young, who then dis-
missed the pioneer camp with his blessing.

They drove into the city in order. The streets
were lined with people to shake hands with them as
they passed. Each of the pioneers drove to his
own home. This was October 31st.

The pioneers on their return found the Saints at
winter quarters well and prosperous. They, like
their leaders, had been greatly blessed. The earth,

1 88 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

under their thorough habits of cultivation and in-
dustry, had brought forth abundantly.

During the month of November much important
business came before the Twelve ; and, on the last
of the month, the subject of reorganizing the first
Presidency, which had been vacant since the mar-
tyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, was consid-
ered.

On the 3d of December a conference was held on
the east side of the river ; but, after having resolved
to build immediately a large tabernacle for the con-
gregation, it adjourned for three weeks.

There was a feast and a grand council, Dec. 5th,
at the house of Elder Hyde, who had been in
charge at winter quarters during the absence of the
pioneers.

In this council of the Twelve Apostles, their
President first expressed his views concerning the
reorganization of the quorum of the first Presidency,
and wished those present to do the same in their
order, when Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, Wil-
ford Woodruff, Willard Richards, George A. Smith,
Amasa Lyman and Ezra T. Benson spoke to the
question. President Young closed.

Orson Hyde then moved that Brigham Young be
President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints, and that he nominate his two councilors
to form the first Presidency. Wilford Woodruff
seconded the motion, and it was then carried unani-
mously.

President Young then nominated Heber C. Kim-
ball as his first councilor, and Willard Richards as
his second councilor, which was seconded and car-
ried unanimously.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 89

The Twelve again met the next day, and ap-
pointed Father John Smith presiding patriarch of
the whole Church.

The conference reassembled on the 24th of De-
cember, and lasted four days. In the " Log Taber-
" nacle " one thousand persons assembled, and chose
Brigham Young " President of the Church of Jesus
" Christ in all the world." This was reconfirmed at
the October general conference the following year,
in Salt Lake City.

During the first three months of the year 1848,
the Saints at winter quarters were busy preparing
for the general migration of the Church to the
Valley of the Great Salt Lake ; but they also pe-
titioned the Legislature of Iowa for the organiza-
tion of a county in the Pottowatomie tract of land,
and for a post office.

On the 3d of February those who were in the
'" Battle of Nauvoo " commemorated it with a
feast.

On the 6th of April the regular general confer-
ence was held, celebrating the organization of the
Church; and on the nth messengers arrived
from Great Salt Lake Cify. They were of the
battalion.

A feast was made by President Young on the
29th for his immediate associates, some of whom
were going on missions, others were designed to
stay on the frontiers to conduct and bring up the
emigration ; while President Young himself was
about to lead the vanguard of the people to the
mountains.

About the middle of May, all was bustle at winter

igO LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

quarters. President Young addressed the people
Sunday, 14th, blessed those who were going with
him to the valley, and those who were to tarry. He
also blessed the Pottowatomie land, and prophesied
that the Saints would never be driven from the
Rocky Mountains.

On the 24th of May President Young started
for Elk Horn to organize his company. There
were 600 wagons in the encampment. They formed
the largest pioneer force which had yet set out to
build up the States and Territories destined to
spring up on the Pacific slope.

We need not follow the pioneers on their second
journey to the Rocky Mountains. Suffice it to say
that Brigham led the body of the Church in safety
to those mountain retreats, ariving in the City of
the Great Salt Lake in September, 1848.

The bare suggestion of an exodus, when the
young Prince of Orange proposed to the Dutch the
submerging of Holland by the unlocking of her
dykes, and the transporting of the nation in her
fleets to some virgin soil, rather than be conquered
by France, suddenly from the lowest depression
aroused the heroism of the people of the Nether-
lands to the sublimest pitch. It restored the family
of the dispossessed Stadtholders ; lifted the House
of Nassau even above what it was when the young
hero's great-grandfather, " William the Silent,"
founded the Dutch Republic ; brought out the fra-
gile stripling who conceived and proposed that exo-
dus, and made him the soul of a European coalition
which checkmated the gigantic ambitions of Louis
le Grand, and finally placed him on the throne of
England as William the Third.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 191

But here, with the Mormons, we have not a mere
conception of an exodus, daring as that was, but a
veritable exodus itself, of an entire people, reduced
to the greatest extremity. There has been nothing
of its type for a thousand years. The last was the
immortalized " Hegira " of Mohammed, whence
dated the Mohammedan era, and the founding of
that vast religious empire which for centuries with-,
stood the chivalry of Christendom and contended
for the dominion of the world. And what even
was the exodus of the disciples of Mohammed,
compared with that of the Mormons ? Having
converted to the cause of Islam twelve citizens
from Medina, who came on pilgrimage to the sacred
city of Mecca, and through them the warrior chief-
tains of the rival neighboring city, the Eastern
Prophet had merely sent a pioneer band of his
adherents there to raise his standard, while he and
his faithful Abu Beker brought up the " flight "
alone on foot. But the Mormons, under their great
leader, passed over the borders of civilization, with
their wives and their children, in broad daylight,
before the eyes of their enemies, making a journey
of fifteen hundred miles across trackless prairies,
sandy deserts and rocky mountains. What, indeed,
for distance, was the immortalized exodus of ancient
Israel compared with that of Mormon Israel under
Brigham Young ?

CHAPTER XII.

THE MORMONS IN THEIR NEW " GATHERING PLACE."
FIRST CELEBRATION. GROWTH OF THEIR COMMON-
WEALTH. . FOUNDING OF THE STATE OF DESERET.
CONGRESS ESTABLISHES A TERRITORIAL ORGANI-
ZATION. FAMINE AND CRICKETS. A STRANGE
PROPHECY BY HEBER C. KIMBALL, AND A STRANGER
FULFILLMENT. THE RUSH OF THE GOLD FINDERS
TO CALIFORNIA. GRAND CELEBRATIONS. MEMO-
RIAL TO CONGRESS FOR A NATIONAL RAILROAD
TO THE PACIFIC IN 1 85 2. A SLANDER EXPLODED.
GRAND RAILROAD DEMONSTRATION IN 1 854.

The Saints in the valley had been specially
blessed, notwithstanding the adversities attendant
upon the first settling of a country so far removed
from the borders of civilization. As we have seen/
they brought from Nauvoo scarcely a week's sup-
plies for a whole people in their exodus ; the rest
they had to create, by sending their laborers into
the surrounding country. This, with the wise policy
of establishing temporary settlements on the route,
in time to plant their seed and reap their harvest,
had preserved them from want during their two
years' sojourn in the wilderness. But a severe
winter in the valley on their arrival, considering the
condition of a community under such extraordinary

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 93

circumstances, must have been disastrous, or at least
attended with great suffering ; but Providence was
propitious ; the winter was the mildest ever known
in that region to this very day ; and, when the
pioneers returned they found all well. To use their
own expressions, the people were " hid in the cham-
bers of the Lord," to rest from the persecutions of
their enemies and develop, in their sanctified isola-
tion, those social and religious institutions which
they believed, when perfected, would be to the age
as the beginning of a new civilization.

On the evening of President Youngs arrival, two
of his daughters, Elizabeth Ellsworth and Vilate
Decker, with their husbands, who came the previous
season, made a feast for him and sang a salutation,
composed for the occasion by Eliza R. Snow ; and ?
on the Sabbath following, a general welcome was
extended by the entire community.

The first celebration in the mountains was held
on the 24th of July, 1849 — tne second anniversary
of the entrance of the pioneers.

It was a grand primitive festival. The feast con-
sisted of but few luxuries, yet the day which they
celebrated made it a crowning occasion ; nor have
the immense displays of later years overshadowed
this one in the remembrance of the first settlers of
the valley.

The people, in their satisfied pride, united to
grace the day with primitive taste and beauty, and
every device which their inventive skill could
bring into requisition, was exhibited in the decora-
tions and performance of the day. It was truly a
display of civilization in the midst of a rude wilder-
ness.

194 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

The following description of the celebration, by
the " Chief Scribe," may be of interest to many :

" The inhabitants were awakened by the firing of
cannon, accompanied by music. The brass band
playing martial airs, was then carried through the
city, returning to the Bower by seven o'clock. The
Bower is a building ioo feet long by 60 feet wide,
built on 104 posts, and covered with boards; but
for the services of this day a canopy or awning was
extended about 100 feet from each side of the
Bower, to accommodate the vast multitude at
dinner.

At half-past seven the large national flag, measur-
ing sixty-five feet in length, was unfurled at the top
of the liberty pole, which is 104 feet high, and was
saluted by the firing of six guns, the ringing of the
Nauvoo bell, and spirit-stirring airs from the band.

At eight o'clock the multitude were called to-
gether by music and the firing of guns, the bishops
of the several wards arranging themselves in the
sides of the aisles, with the banners of their wards
unfurled, each bearing some appropriate inscription.

At a quarter-past eight, the Presidency of the
Stake, the Twelve, and the bands, went to prepare
the escort in the following order, at the house of
President Brigham Young, under the direction of
Lorenzo Snow, J. M. Grant, and T. D. Richards :

(1) Horace S. Eldridge, marshal, on horseback, in
military uniform ; (2) brass band ; (3) twelve bishops
bearing the banners of their wards ; (4) seventy-four
young men dressed in white, with white scarfs on
their right shoulders, and coronets on their heads,
each carrying in his right hand a copy of the decla-
ration of independence and the constitution of the
United States, and each carrying a sheathed sword
in his left hand ; one of them carrying a beautiful
banner, inscribed on it, "The Zion of the Lord;''

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 1 95

(5) twenty-four young ladies, dressed in white, with
white scarfs on their right shoulders, and wreaths
of white roses on their heads, each carrying a copy
of the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and one
carrying a very neat banner, inscribed with " Hail
to our Captain " ; (6) Brigham Young, Heber C.
Kimball, Willard Richards, Parley P. Pratt, Charles
C. Rich, John Taylor, Daniel Spencer, D. Fullmer,
Willard Snow, Erastus Snow ; (7) twelve bishops,
carrying flags of their wards ; (8) twenty-four Silver
Greys, led by Isaac Morley, patriarch, each having a
staff, painted red at the upper part, and a bunch of
white ribbon fastened at the top, one of them carry-
ing the stars and stripes, bearing the inscription,
11 Liberty and Truth."

The procession started from the house at nine
o'clock. The young men and young ladies sang a
hymn through the streets, the cannon roared, the
musketry rolled, the Nauvoo bell pealed forth its
silvery notes, and the air was filled by the sweet
strains of the brass band. On arriving at the Bower
the escort was received with shouts of " Hosanna !
to God and the Lamb ! " While the presidency,
patriarch and presiding bishops were passing down
the aisle, the people cheered and shouted " Hail to
the Governor of Deseret." These being seated by
the committee on the stand, the escort passed
round the assembly, singing a hymn of praise,
marched down the aisle, and were seated in double
rows on either side. The assembly was called to
order by Mr. J. M. Grant. On being seated Mr.
Erastus Snow offered up a prayer.

Richard Ballantine, one of the twenty-four young
men, came to the stand, and in a neat speech pre-
sented the declaration of independence, and the
constitution of the United States, to President
Young, which was received with three shouts, " May
it live for ever," led by the President.

The declaration of independence was then read

I96 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

by Mr. Erastus Snow, the band following with a
lively air.

The clerk then read " The Mountain Standard,"
composed by Parley P. Pratt :

" Lo the Gentile chain is broken,

Freedom's banner waves on high."

After the above had been sung by the twenty-four
young men and young ladies, Mr. Phineas Richards
came forward in behalf of the twenty-four aged sires
in Israel, and read their congratulatory address on
the anniversary of the day. At the conclusion of
the reading, the assembly rose and shouted three
times, " Hosanna! hosanna! hosanna! to God
" and the Lamb, for ever and ever, Amen," while
the banners were waved by the bishops. The band
next played a lively air, and the clerk then rose and
read an " Ode on Liberty."

The ode was then sung by the twenty-four
Silver Greys to the tune of " Bruce's Address to
His Army."

The hour of intermission having arrived, the
escort was reformed, the bishops of each ward col-
lected the inhabitants of their respective wards to-
gether, and marched with them to the dinner tables,
when several thousand of the Saints dined sumptu-
ously on the fruits of the earth. Several hundred
emigrants also partook of the repast, as did also
three score Indians."

The community grew so rapidly that before the
close of the second year it was deemed wise to
establish a constitutional secular government, and
accordingly representatives of the people met in
convention, and formed the " Provisional Govern-
ment of the State of Deseret." A constitution was
adopted, and delegates sent to Washington, asking

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. I97

admission into the Union. Here is what they
said :

" We, the people, grateful to the Supreme Being
for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our
dependence on Him for a continuation of those
blessings, do ordain and establish a free and inde-
pendent government by the name of the State of
Deseret, including all the Territory of the United
States within the following boundaries, to wit :
commencing at the 33d deg. of north latitude, where
it crosses the ioSth deo\ of lonoitude west from
Greenwich ; thence running south and west to the
boundary of Mexico ; thence west to and down the
main channel of the Gila River (or the northern
part of Mexico), and on the northern boundary of
Lower California to the Pacific Ocean ; thence
along the coast northwesterly to the 1 iSth deg. 30th
min. of west longitude ; thence north to where said
line intersects the dividing rido-e of the Sierra Ne-
vada Mountains to the dividing ranore of mountains
that separates the waters flowing into the Columbia
River from the waters runninof into the o-reat basin
on the south, to the summit of the Wind River
chain of mountains ; thence southeast and south
by the dividing range of mountains that separates,
the waters flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from
the waters flowing into the Gulf of California, to
the place of beginning, as set forth in a map drawn
by Charles Preuss, and published by order of the
Senate of the United States, in 1848."

When it is remembered that this vast tract of
country, thus mapped out for the State of Deseret, is
the very antipodes of the ancient land of Canaan ; not
11 flowing with milk and honey," but literally barren
and desolate ; the projectors of the scheme will surely
receive more credit for their " pluck " than censure

I98 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

for their ambition. Nor did the Mormon pioneers
wantonly map out more Territory than their faith
led them to believe they could subdue and occupy ;
for with prophetic eye they saw an innumerable
company gathering to their standard, in support of
the divine mission of their Prophet. Neither is
their faith concerning this matter materially changed
to-day, notwithstanding the fact that Congress has,
from time to time, largely contracted their original
boundaries.

A Governor (Brigham Young), Lieut-Governor,
Judges and Legislators for the State of Deseret,
were duly elected, and all swore fidelity to the con-
stitution of the United States. But Congress, in-
stead, saw fit to disregard their desire for a State
organization, and on the 9th of September, 185(3
passed an act, organizing the Territory of Utah
within the following limits : " Bounded on the west
" by the State of California ; on the north by the
11 Territory of Oregon ; on the east by the summits
" of the Rocky Mountains ; and on the south by
" the 37th parallel of north latitude," with the pro-
viso that Congress should be at liberty, when it
might be deemed " convenient and proper," to cut
it up into two or more Territories, or to attach any
portion of it to any other State or Territory. On
the 20th of the same month, President Fillmore,
" with the advice and consent of the Senate," ap-
pointed Brigham Young Governor of Utah ; B. D,
Harris, of Vermont, Secretary ; Joseph Buffington,
of Pennsylvania, Chief Justice ; Perry E. Brocchus,
of Alabama, and Zerubbabel Snow, of Ohio, Asso-
ciate Justices ; Seth M. Blair, of De.seret, U. S.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. I99

Attorney ; and Joseph L. Heywood, of Deseret, U.
S. Marshal ; but Buffington declining the office of
Chief Justice, Lemuel G. Brandebury was appointed
in his stead. These appointments gave the majority
of the Federal offices to the people, Snow, Blair
and Heywood being Mormons.

The choice of Governor was made upon the
recommendation of Col. Thomas L. Kane, but
President Fillmore could not with consistency have
appointed any other than Brigham Young, for
though his ecclesiastical supremacy might have been
objectionable to the Government, Congress could
not wisely have set aside his just claims. On their
side, the Saints signified their grateful appreciation
by naming the capital of the Territory " Fillmore,"
and the county in which it was located, " Millard/'
At Fillmore, which is one hundred and fifty miles
south of Salt Lake City, the " State House" was
built ; and there, for some years, the Legislative
Assembly met ; but at a later period, the capital of
Utah was removed to Salt Lake City.

Governor Young took the oath of office on the
3d of February, 1851 ; and on the 25th of March,
he issued a special message to the General Assem-
bly of the State of Deseret, notifying them of the
action of Congress. On the 5th of April, 1852,
Deseret was officially merged into the Territory of
Utah.

Of course, in the founding of Utah, there was
much that was peculiar to the people in their social
and governmental methods ; but in nothing were
they more peculiar than in their judicial affairs.
The did not believe in going to law one with an-

200 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

other. They took their cases to the " High Coun-
cil " and the courts of their bishops, or Ward
Councils. Their judicial economy was after the
patterns of the New Testament rather than after
the patterns of Blackstone. It was this which made
Mormon rule so obnoxious to Federal judges and
Gentile lawyers. Federal judges could not possibly
find their vocation in a purely Mormon common-
wealth, nor could Gentile lawyers reach the pockets
of the people.

The Federal officials arrived in Utah in July,
185 1. By an uncalled for and injudicious attempt
to meddle with the social and religious peculiarities
of the people, they soon rendered themselves un-
popular. Being thus brought to a condition of
social self-ostracism, their stay became irksome and
intolerable, and they accordingly accepted the first
convenient occasion to resign and retire from the
Territory.

Judges Reed and Shaver, and Secretary Ferris,
succeeded the retiring officials, and their intercourse
with the people was markedly wiser and more suc-
cessful than that of their predecessors. Judges
Reed and Shaver soon died (the former while on a
visit to New York), and Secretary Ferris, after pub-
lishing an anti-Mormon book, retired from the
United States service in Utah.

The next set of Federal officials, Chief Justice
Kinney, Associate Justices Stiles and Drummond,
and Secretary Babbitt, had a more lengthy and im-
portant connection with the affairs of the Territory.
Justice Drummond became particularly conspicuous
as a mischief maker, many of the more serious

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 201

governmental perplexities and difficulties of the
Mormon people being popularly accredited to his
Mephistophelian tendencies. Largely through his
efforts and representations, the uncharitable and
bigoted elements of the country were brought into
array against Governor Young, and President Pierce
was prevailed upon to determine his removal from
the Governorship.

In 1854, Lieutenant-Colonel E. J. Steptoe, with
about three hundred of his regiment, arrived in the
Territory on their way to California, and to him,
early in December, President Pierce tendered the
Governorship of Utah ; but a memorial to His
Excellency, headed by Chief Justice Kinney and
Colonel Steptoe, obtained Brigham's re-appointment
as Governor and Superintendent of Indian affairs.
(See Chapter XIV.)

The destitute condition of the Saints in their
exodus has already been depicted, and such, in a
measure, must have inevitably been their con-
dition during the first seasons spent in a country
where Colonel Bridger had supposed not even a
bushel of wheat could be raised. Their crops, how-
ever, had been plentiful, but the large emigration of
their people from the frontiers and from Europe, in
1847 an d 1848, may readily suggest that the pro-
ducts of the country raised by the few must, at the
best, have fallen far short of the most primitive
necessities of the community.

Then came the desolating crickets before the
harvest of 1848. Their ravages were frightful.

202 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

Countless hosts attacked the fields of grain. The
crops were threatened with utter destruction. The
valleys appeared as though scorched by fire. Famine
stared the settlers in the face. All were in danger
of perishing. America and Europe were shocked
with the prospect of a whole community being
doomed to absolute starvation before succor could
be sent, even had the benevolent Christian world
been disposed to feed the outcast Mormons from
its overflowing granaries.

Then came the manifestation of a special provi-
dence. Immense flocks of gulls came up from the
islands of the lake, to make war upon the destroy-
ing hosts. Like good angels they came at the
dawn ; all day they feasted upon the crickets.
When full they disgorged and feasted again. Thus
the gulls certainly saved the Mormons in 1848.
They were, indeed, as angels sent, and the grateful
people treated them as such. This incident, along
with that of the coming of the flock of quails to the
remnant of the exiles from Nauvoo, as they laid
sick and starving on the banks of the Mississippi,
will live in Mormon history, to be deservedly com-
pared with the feeding of the Children of Israel in,
the wilderness.

Even as it was, there was a season of famine in
Utah ; but like as in the second famine in 1856,
none perished from starvation. In both cases the
patriarchal character of the community saved it.
As one great family, they shared the substance of
the country. The inventory of provisions in the
Spring of 1849 showed that there was on ly three-
quarters of a pound of breadstuffs per day in the

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 203

whole Territory for each person, up to the 5th of
July. It is evident that in all these times of famine,
as in their exodus and emigrations, the Mormons
owe their preservation to their patriarchal and com-
munistic organization. The people were put upon
rations. Still their breadstuffs were insufficient,
and many v/ent out with the Indians and dug small
native roots, while some, in their destitution, took
the hides of animals which covered the roofs of their
houses, and cut them up and cooked them. But
the harvest of 1849 was abundant, and the people
were saved.

By this time the Mormons in Utah were as des-
titute of clothing and every kind of " States goods "
as they had been of food. Now came another pro-
vidential circumstance to help them in their time of
need. Now came another event which not only
gave prosperity to Utah, but a dispensation of
wealth to the nation, and new States and Territories
to her dominions. It scarcely need be said that
this was the discovery of gold in California.

A happy prophecy of Heber C. Kimball is im-
mortalized in connection with this event. Here is
the often-told story, which, unlike most popular
stories, is singularly true :

After the return of the pioneers from winter
quarters to the Valley, in 1848, bringing with them
the body of the Church, which had become, during
the sojourn in the wilderness, nearly as primitive in
the matter of clothing as the Indians, the spirit of
prophecy rested upon Heber, and, to the astonish-
ment of the congregation of Israel, and greatly to
the provocation of their unbelief, he predicted that

204 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

" States goods " should be sold in the streets of
Salt Lake City as cheap as in New York, and that
the people should be abundantly provided with
clothing. The fulfillment, of course, was to be im-
mediate, or the prophecy would be worthless. After
dwelling upon this most blessed gospel news, if
true, Heber sat down, and the " spirit went out of
" him." Then the Prophet doubted his own words,
and confessed to the brethren his fears that he had
" missed it this time! 1 Yet it was the best prophetic
hit of his life. Brigham, when leading the Mor-
mons from Nauvoo, had made a similar prediction,
declaring that in " five years " they should be " bet-
" ter off " than ever they had been. Both prophe-
cies were hanging on some coming event then un-
seen.

Here is how the fulfillment was brought about,
coupled with an episode of California and the Mor-
mon battalion :

Destiny led the Mormon pioneers to the valleys
of Utah. Destiny went with the Mormon battalion
to California in the expedition of General S. W.
Kearney, whose, instructions from the Secretary of
War were to " conquer " California, and set up a
provisional military government there in the name
of the United States. California, however, was
won by Fremont and his volunteers, and the United
States flag was hoisted in the Bay of San Francisco
by Commodore Stockton before the arrival of Gen.
Kearney. A battle or two, by the regular troops
under Kearney, completed the conquest. Had not
the General been forestalled by Fremont, the Mor-
mons would have been among his most reliable sol-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 205

diers in the conquest of that country. As it was,
Kearney found the situation claimed by several
rival Governors. Fremont was the hero. Fremont
was his great rival. The hero was in rebellion. He
refused at first to resign to the military chief the
government of the conquered Province. He might
have even won the position from the rightful Gov-
ernor on the strength of his claims as conqueror,
supported by his popularity ; but at this crisis of
affairs Col. Phillip St. George Cooke arrived in
California with his command — the Mormon bat-
talion. Their coming gave to Kearney the victory
over his rival. He consulted with Colonel Cooke,
who assured him that he could rely on his Mormon
soldiers to a man. This decided the General. He
resolved to force the issue and arrest his rival.
This was consummated, and Fremont was carried
to Washington for trial, under a Mormon gzcard.
The famous case of Kearney and Fremont forms
quite a chapter of American history, but it is not so
well known how conspicuous a part the Mormon
soldiers played in the case. They did, in fact, very
materially help their General accomplish his mission
of establishing in California the regular authority
of the United States.

The Mormon battalion fought no battles during
the service, but its soldiers performed one of the
most remarkable marches on record.

The battalion was discharged. It was then that
these disbanded soldiers did for America a work in
California which will not be forgotten, even when
the West shall have become the rival of the East in
'wealth and dominion. It was their shovels upon

206 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

which the gold first glittered, inviting adventurous
millions to the Pacific coast.

On being discharged from the United States
service, four of the Mormon battalion found employ
with Mr. Thomas Marshall, in digging Captain Sut-
ter's mill race. One day these brethren were at-
tracted by the mysterious movements of their fore-
man, Mr. Marshall, whom they partly surprised in
the act of washing something which his shovel had
just turned up. That something was gold ! The
discovery was at once shared by Mr. Marshall and
his men. Of course, at first, there was some secrecy
preserved, but such a discovery could not be long
hid, and soon the Mormons of California, both
those of the battalion and those who sailed to the
Bay of San Francisco with Mr. Samuel Brannan in
the ship Brooklyn, were working in the gold dig-
gings. So that notwithstanding Mr. Marshall's,
shovel brought the initial glitter of California gold
to light, it was the ordained shovels of Mormon
Elders that published the golden tidings to the:
world. It is not a little curious, too, that the gold
of California pretty faithfully at first paid tithing to
the Church. But the Mormons, as a class, did not
resign their mission for the service of Mammon.
The brethren of the battalion returned to their
families in the Valley, leaving the pursuit of gold to*
the Gentiles, yet bringing with them large quanti-
ties of the precious " dust." The Church at once
became wealthy ; a " mint" was established in Zion^
and a gold currency issued ; but before this had
also been fulfilled the prophecy of Heber C. Kim-
ball.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS.

207

No sooner was the discovery bruited than the
whole civilized world seemed to be rushing to the
new El Dorado. Scarcely a nation but sent its
adventurous spirits to the paradise of gold which
Mormon elders had found. A paradise soon to be
transformed into a veritable pandemonium. But
from the American States themselves came colony
after colony pouring daily toward the west. Gold
was the incentive at first, but as that wondrous emi-
grational tide swelled, it became more like the
migration of a dominant race for the purpose of
founding a new empire. This did finally become
the proper character of the movement. The exodus
of the Saints seemed to have been but as a pioneer
impulse which all America was in turn to feel.

The best blood of America was in those emigrant
companies, and they took with them enough re-
sources to found a new State ; but there was no
" royal road " to the land of gold ; fifteen hundred
miles then intervened between the western frontier
of the States and Salt Lake City. The Mormon
Zion became the " half-way house " of the nation.

But the ambitious and spirited emigrants to Cali-
fornia could not endure the tedious journey as the
Saints had done. Before they reached the moun-
tains they began to leave fragments of their richly-
laden trains by the wayside. All along the route
was strewn valuable freight, with the ruins of
wagons and the carcasses of oxen and mules.

By the time the gold finders reached the valley
of the Great Salt Lake, they were utterly impatient
and demoralized. Many had loaded their trains
with clothing, dry goods, general merchandise,

208 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

mechanics' tools and machinery, expecting to find a
market where gold was dug and a new country to
be settled. But the merchant, alike with the adven-
turer, was at last subdued by the contagion of the
gold fever, and provoked into a mania of impatience
by the tedious journey. News also reached the
overland emigrants that steamers, laden with mer-
chandise, had sailed from New York to California.
The speculations of the merchants lost their last
charm. That which was destined for California
was left in Utah. In absolute disgust for their
trains of merchandise and splendid emigrant outfits,
they gave the bulk to the Mormons at their own
price, and for the most ordinary means of barter.
A horse or a mule outfit to carry the gold finder
quickly to his destination, was taken as an equiva^
lent for wagons, cattle and merchandise.

Thus the destitute Mormons, by as strange a
providence as one could conceive, were suddenly
made prosperous in all they most needed by the
simplest exchanges, and their supply of cattle and
mules was greatly augmented by the temporarily
exhausted but excellent stock of the emigrants.

Thus was the remarkable prophecy of Heber C.
Kimball fulfilled, with a detailed exactness that
seldom falls to the lot of prophecies. " States
goods " were purchased in the streets of Salt Lake
City cheaper than in New York ; in some cases for
a tenth of their original cost. BrighanVs prophecy
to the Saints, when they left Nauvoo, was also
verified. Within the given " five years " they were,
indeed, better off than they had ever been before.

In 1852 the people had a grand celebration of

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 2CX)

the Fourth of July. This was the first notable cele-
bration of our national anniversary by the Mormons
since their arrival in the valley, though it was kept
by the pioneers on the way, both at winter quarters
and as they approached the haven of their search.
They had afterwards, in a manner, blended the idea
and spirit of the fourth with the twenty-fourth,
which they esteem as the natal day of Utah. On
the first celebration of the twenty-fourth, the con-
stitution of the United States was presented to the
Governor of the State of Deseret, and the declara-
tion of independence read, but the honor of the
year, in 1852, was given to the Fourth of July.

The Saints, however, could not altogether. forget
their exile. Their expulsions and other wrongs
rankled in their hearts and in their memories, for
they were mostly American born who occupied the
valleys at that time. The Fourth of July, therefore,
was just the occasion to call up some bitter remem-
brances, which not even a genuine patriotism could
quite subdue. This latter feeling was allowed public
expression by the reading of the following poem,
composed for the occasion, by Eliza R. Snow :

Shall we commemorate the day

Whose genial influence has passed o'er ?
Shall we our hearts' best tribute pay

Where heart and feeling are no more ?

Shall we commemorate the day,

With freedom's ensign waving high,
Whose blood-stained banner 's furled away,

Whose rights and freedom have gone by ?

Shall we, when gasping 'neath its wave,

Extol the beauties of the sea?
Or, lashed upon fair freedom's grave, i

Proclaim the strength of liberty?

2IO LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

It is heart-rending mockery !

I'd sooner laugh midst writhing pain,
Than chant the Song of Liberty

Beneath oppression's galling chain !

Columbia's glory is a theme

That with our life's warm pulses grew J
But ah ! 'tis fled; and like a dream,

Its ghost is flutt'ring in our view !

Her dying groans — her fun'ral knell

We've heard, for oh ! we've had to fly !
And now, alas ! we know too well,

The days of freedom have gone by.

Protection faints and justice cow'rs —

Redress is slumbering on the heath ■
And 'tis in vain to lavish flowers

Upon our country's fading wreath !

Better implore His aid divine,

Whose arm can make his people free ;
Than decorate the hollow shrine

Of our departed liberty !

Yet an excellent accompaniment of this gifted
lady's theme will be found in the following, from a
patriotic speech, delivered on that occasion, by Gen.
Wells. He said :

" It has been thought by some that this people,
abused, maltreated, insulted, robbed, plundered and
finally disfranchised and expatriated, would natu-
rally feel reluctant to again unite their destiny with
the American Republic. No wonder that it was
thought by some that we would not again submit
ourselves (even while we were yet scorned and
ridiculed) to return to our allegiance to our native
country. Remember, that it was by the act of our
country, not ours, that we were expatriated ; and
then consider the opportunity we had of forming
other ties ; let this pass while we lift the veil and

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 211

show the policy which dictated us. That country,
that constitution, those institutions were all ours-
they are still ours. Our fathers were heroes of the
revolution. Under the master spirits of an Adams/
a Jefferson, and a Washington, they declared and
maintained their independence ; and under the
guidance of the spirit of truth, they fulfilled their
mission whereunto they were sent from the presence
of the Father. Because demagogues have arisen
and seized the reins of power, should we relinquish
our interest in that country, made dear to us by
every tie of association and consanguinity ? * * *
Those who have indulged such sentiments concern-
ing us, have not read Mormonism aright ; for never,
no never, will we desert our country's cause ; never
will we be found arrayed by the side of her enemies,
although she herself may cherish them in her own
bosom. Although she may launch forth the thun-
der-bolts of war, which may return and spend their
fury upon her own head, never, no never, will we
permit the weakness of human nature to triumph
over our love of country, our devotion to her insti-
tutions, handed down to us by our honored sires„
made dear by a thousand tender recollections."

11 Such, surely," says Stansbury, " is neither the
" language nor the spirit of a disloyal people."

The fact, too, that the people kept the Fourth of
July during the pioneer journey to the mountains,
when no eye but God's saw them, and there was no
need for a display of loyalty for political purposes
shows how genuine is their love of country and
reverence for the constitution. The address of
President Young also, on the occasion of the calling
of the Mormon battalion, is a rare example of this.
Notwithstanding they had looked upon the "call"'

212 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

as a test of Mormon loyalty, and knew that it would
prevent their going to the mountains that year, and
rob them of the flower of their camps, he prompted
the volunteers to their duty, as we have before re-
corded, in this remarkable manner :

" I want to say to every man, the constitution of
41 the United States, as formed by our fathers, was
" dictated, was revealed, was put into their hearts
" by the Almighty, who sits enthroned in the midst
41 of the heavens ; although unknown to them, it
" was dictated by the revelations of Jesus Christ,
41 and I tell you in the name of Jesus Christ, it is as
41 good as I could ever ask for. I say unto you,
" magnify the laws. There is no law in the United
" States, or in the constitution, but I am ready to
41 make honorable."

Yet, if to boldly stand up for their own constitu-
tional rights, and to protest against the maladminis-
tration of Federal rule over the Territories, be dis-
loyalty, Brigham Young and his people have been
disloyal enough.

An incident of their history, at this date, relative
to the construction of a great national railroad to
the Pacific coast, is too suggestive to be omitted,
and it will be an excellent refutation of the slander
that the Mormons courted a semi-barbaric isola-
tion.

At the first session of the Territorial Legislature,
held in 185 1-2, in Salt Lake City, memorials to
Congress were adopted, praying for the construc-
tion of a national central railroad, and also a tele-
graph line from the Missouri River, via Salt Lake
City, to the Pacific. The following memorial

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 213

was signed and approved by Governor Young,
March 3d, 1852 :

" To the Honorable the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives of the United States, in Co7igress
Assembled :

Your memorialists, the Governor and Legislative
Assembly of the Territory of Utah, respectfully
pray your honorable body to provide for the estab-
lishment of a national central railroad from some
eligible point on the Mississippi or Missouri River,
to San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento or
Astoria, or such other point on or near the Pacific
coast as the wisdom of your honorable body may
dictate.

Your memorialists respectfully state that the im-
mense emigration to and from the Pacific requires
the immediate attention, guardian care and fostering
assistance of the greatest and most liberal Govern-
ment on the earth.. Your memorialists are of the
opinion that not less than five thousand American
citizens have perished on the different routes within
the last three years, for the want of proper means
of transportation. That an eligible route can be
obtained, your memorialists have no doubt, being
extensively acquainted with the country. We know
that no obstruction exists between this point and
San Diego, and that iron, coal, timber, stone and
other materials exist in various places on the route ;
and that the settlements of this Territory are so
situated as to amply supply the builders of said
road with materials and provisions for a considera-
ble portion of the route, and to carry on an exten-
sive trade after the road is completed.

Your memorialists are of opinion that the mine-
ral resources of California and these mountains can
never be fully developed to the benefit of the

214, LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

United States, without the construction of such a
road ; and upon its completion, the entire trade of
China and the East Indies ,will pass through the
heart of the Union, thereby giving our citizens the
almost entire control of the Asiatic and Pacific
trade ; pouring into the lap of the American States
the millions that are now diverted through other
commercial channels ; and last, though not least,
the road herein proposed would be a perpetual
chain or iron band, which would effectually hold to-
gether our glorious Union with an imperishable
identity of mutual interest ; thereby consolidating
our relations with foreign powers in times of peace,
and our defence from foreign invasion, by the
speedy transmission of troops and supplies, in time
of war.

The earnest attention of Congress to this import-
ant subject is solicited by your memorialists, who,
in duty bound, will ever pray."

Herein will be seen that strong Mormon ambi-
tion for the glory and unity of our common country
manifested throughout the entire history of this
people, when the national destiny is not made to
mean the extinction of the Mormons in its manifest
course. With that qualification the Mormons were,
in their design, as much the pioneers of this " great
" national railroad," to unite the two halves of the
continent, and pour millions of people on to the
Pacific sic j, to build up a galaxy of new States, as
they had been of the emigration itself in that
direction ; and this, too, was quite in keeping with
that bold offer made to the Government by Joseph
Smith, in 1843, to enter mto the service of the
nation, with several thousand well armed volun-
teers, to be followed by the entire Mormon com-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 215

munity, to conquer the Pacific dominion for the
United States, and checkmate the aims of Great
Britain to establish herself on this coast by the
connivance of Mexico.

On the 31st of January, 1854, there was another
movement of the people for a Pacific railroad. The
citizens of Salt Lake and surrounding country, men
and women, gathering en masse to make a grand
demonstration in its favor.

CHAPTER XIII.

PICTURES OF MORMON SOCIETY IN THE FOUNDING OF
UTAH. LIFE AMONG THE SAINTS. THEIR SOCIAL
AND RELIGIOUS PECULIARITIES AND CUSTOMS.
ECSTACY OF THE GOLD FINDERS WHEN THEY
CAME UPON." ZION." VIEWS BY STANSBURY, GUN-
NISON, AND NOTED ENGLISH TRAVELERS, OF THE
MORMONS AND THEIR INSTITUTIONS.

It is thought that a few pictures of the early days
of Utah, and of Mormon society in its primeval
forms, may have a special interest to visitors of
to-day, who go up to the New Jerusalem of the
West in luxurious palace cars. They shall be the
pictures which struck the fancy, or the judgment^
of the intelligent " gentile " who first came upon
the peculiar people, just settled in the valleys of
Utah, yet described them in wonderment, much as
they would have done had they come upon the
strange habitations and inhabitants of another world.
There is a graphic life touch in some of those
sketches — mere letters though they were — that the
imagination of the best artist could not equaL
They are realistic pictures of what was ; romances
of social life, so to speak, that were not dreams.

Gunnison, in his " History of the Mormons/'
observes :

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 21 7

" This treatise on the faith and condition of the
Mormons, results from a careful observation of that
strange and interesting people, during more than a
year's residence among them, in an official capacity.
It was conceived that what is influencing the con-
scientious character of a half million souls, is worthy
a serious investigation, though not pertinent to
an official report under government auspices. For
those who desire facts in the history of humanity,
on which to indulge in reflection, is this offered. It
were far easier to give a romantic sketch in lofty
metaphors, of the genesis and exodus of the empire-
founding Saints — the subject is its own epic of
heroism, whose embellishment is left to imaginative
genius, and its philosophy to be deduced by the
candid philanthropist. * " * But the peculiar
character of the founders of Deseret, their energy,
union,' and hopes, stimulated by their religious
views, more especially demand our notice ; and this
subject is equally interesting to the politician, the
philosopher, and the theologian. We found them,
in 1849, organized into a State, with all the order
of legislative, judicial, and executive offices regularly
filled, under a constitution eminently republican in
sentiment, and tolerant in religion ; and though the
authority of Congress has not yet sanctioned this
form of Government, presented and petitioned for,
they proceed quietly with all the routine of an
organized self-governing people, under the title of a
Territory — being satisfied to abide their time, in
accession of strength by numbers, when they may
be deemed fit to take a sovereign position, being
contented, so long as allowed to enjoy the substance,
under the shadow of a name. They lay and collect
taxes, raise and equip troops for protection, in full
sovereignty, on the soil they helped to conquer first
and to subdue to use afterward."

Here is a graphic sketch from the artistic pen of

2l8 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

a gold digger, a correspondent of the New York
Tribune, under date of July 8th, 1849 :

" The company of gold diggers which I have the
honor to command, arrived here on the 3d instant,
and judge our feelings when, after some twelve
hundred miles travel through an uncultivated desert,
and the last one hundred miles of the distance
through and among lofty mountains, and narrow
and difficult ravines, we found ourselves suddenly,
and almost unexpectedly, in a comparative paradise.
* * * At first sight of all these signs of cultiva-
tion in the wilderness, we were transported with
wonder and pleasure. Some wept, some gave three
cheers, some laughed, and some ran and fairly
danced for joy, while all felt inexpressibly happy to
find themselves once more amid scenes which mark
the progress of advancing civilization. We passed
on amid scenes like these, expecting every moment
to come to some commercial centre, some business
point in this great metropolis of the mountains, but
we were disappointed. No hotel, sign post, cake
and beer shop, barber pole, market house, grocery,
provision, dry goods, or hardware store distinguished
one part of the town from another ; not even a
bakery or mechanic's sign was anywhere discernible.

Here, then, was something new ; an entire people
reduced to a level, and all living by their labor — all
cultivating the earth, or following some branch of
physical industry. At first I thought it was an ex-
periment, an order of things established purposely
to carry out the principles of ' socialism ' or ' Mor-
monism.' In short, I thought it very much like
Owenism personified. However, on inquiry, I found
that a combination of seemingly unavoidable cir-
cumstances had produced this singular state % of
affairs. There were no hotels, because there had
been no travel ; no barbers shops, because every

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 2IO,

one chose to shave himself, and no one had time to
shave his neighbor ; no stores, because they had no
goods to sell, nor time to traffic ; no centre of
business, because all were too busy to make a centre.

There was abundance of mechanics' shops, of
dressmakers, milliners and tailors, &c. ; but they
needed no sign, nor had they time to paint or erect
one, for they were crowded with business. Beside
their several trades, all must cultivate the land, or
die, for the country was new, and no cultivation but
their own within a thousand miles. Every one had
his own lot, and built on it ; every one cultivated it,
and perhaps a small farm in the distance.

And the strangest of all was, that this great
city, extending over several square miles, had been
erected, and every house, and fence made, within nine
or ten months of the time of our arrival ; while at
the same time, good bridges were erected* over the
principal streams, and the country settlements ex-
tended nearly one hundred miles up and down the
valley.

This Territory, State, or, as some term it, ' Mor-
mon empire/ may justly be considered one of the
greatest prodigies of our time, and, in comparison
with its age, the most gigantic of all Republics in
existence — being only in its second year since the
first seed of cultivation was planted, or the first
civilized habitation commenced. If these people
were such thieves and robbers as their enemies rep-
resented them to be in the States, I must think they
have greatly reformed in point of industry since
coming to the mountains.

I this day attended worship with them in the
open air. Some thousands of well dressed, intelli-
gent-looking people assembled ; a number of them
on foot, some in carriages, and some on horseback.
Many were neatly and even fashionably clad. The
beauty and neatness of the ladies reminded me of
some of our best congregations of New York.

220 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

They had a choir of both sexes, who performed
exceedingly well, accompanied by a band, playing
well on almost every musical instrument of modern
invention. Peals of the most sweet, sacred and
solemn music filled the air ; after which, a solemn
prayer was offered by Mr. Grant (a Latter-day
Saint), of Philadelphia. Then followed various
business advertisements, read by the clerk. * * *
After this, came a lengthy discourse by Mr. Brigham
Young, President of the Society, partaking some-
what of politics, much of religion and philosophy,
and a little on the subject of gold ; showing the
wealth, strength and glory of England, growing out
of her coal mines, iron and industry, and the weak-
ness, corruption and degradation of Spanish Ame-
rica, Spain, &c, growing out of their gold and silver,
and idle habits.

He further observed that the people here would
petition to be organized into a Territory under the
American Government, notwithstanding its abuses,
and that, if granted, they would stand by the consti-
tution and laws of the United States ; while, at
the same time, he denounced their corruption and
abuses.

1 But/ said the speaker, ' we ask no odds of them,
whether they grant us our petition or not ! We
never will ask any odds of a nation that has driven
us from our homes. If they grant us our rights,
well ; if not, well ; they can do no more than they
have done. They, and ourselves, and all men, are
in the hands of the great God,- who will govern all
things for good ; and all will be right, and work to-
gether for good to them that serve God.'

Such, in part, was the discourse to which we
listened in the strongholds of the mountains. The
Mormons are not dead, nor is their spirit broken.
And, if I mistake not, there is a noble, daring, stern
and democratic spirit swelling in their bosoms,
which will people these mountains with a race of

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 22 1

independent men, and influence the destiny of our
country and the world for a hundred generations.
In their religion they seem charitable, devoted and
sincere ; in their politics, bold daring and deter-
mined ; in their domestic circle, quiet, affectionate
and happy ; while in industry, skill and intelli-
gence they have few equals, and no superiors on
earth.

I had many strange feelings while contemplating
this new civilization, growing up so suddenly in the
wilderness. I almost wished I could awake from my
golden dream, and find it but a dream ; while I pur-
sued my domestic duties as quietly, as happily, and
contentedly as this strange people.

" These Mormons," says Gunnison, " are certainly
*' the most earnest religionists I have ever been
" among. It seems to be a constant self-sacrifice
" with them, which makes me believe that the
" masses of the people are honest and sincere.

" While professing a complete divorce of Church
" and State, their political character and administra-
" tion is made subservient to the theocratical or re-
" ligious element. They delight to call their sys-
u tern of government a ' theo-democracy,' and that,
" in a civil capacity, they stand as the Israelites of
" old under Moses. For the rule of those not fully
" imbued with the spirit of obedience, and sojourn-
" ers not of the faith, as well as for things purely
" temporal, tribunals of justice and law-making as-
" semblies are at present rendered necessary.

" The influence of their nomenclature of ' breth-
" ' ren and sisters ' is apparent in their actions, and
u creates the bond of affection among those who are

222 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

" more frequently thrown together. It is impressed
" on infantile minds by the constant repetition, and
" induces the feeling of family relationship. A
" little boy was asked the usual question, ' whose
" ' son are you ? ' and he very naively replied, ' I
" ' am Brother Packs son ; ' a small circumstance,
" truly, but one that stamps the true mark of Mor-
" mon society. The welfare of the order becomes,
" therefore, paramount to individual interest ; and
" the union of hearts causes the hands to unite in
" all that pertains to the glory of the State ; and
" hence we see growing up and prospering the most
" enterprising people of the age — combining the
" advantages of communism, placed on the basis of
" religious duty and obedience to what they call the
" law of the gospel — transcending the notion of
" socialistic philosophers, that human regulations
" can improve and perfect society, irrespective of
" the revealed word of God.

" Right or wrong, in the development of the prin-
" ciple, and in its application, they have seized upon
" the most permanent element of the human mind
" in its social relations — not yielding fully to the
" doctrines of earnestness and universal intention,
" and making man his own regenerator, as the foun-
" tain head of truth, and passing thence into mys-
" ticism, pantheism and atheism, neither endeavor-
" ing to cure the ills of society by political notions
" of trade and commerce, nor by educating in the
" sentiment of honor, and by political inculcation of
" high thoughts and noble images, independent of
" being ' born of the water and of the spirit.'

" Nor must we look upon all as ignorant and

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 223

" blindfolded, guided along the ditch of enthusiasm
M by self-deluded leaders. Indeed, almost every
" man is a priest, or eligible to the office, and ready
" armed for the controversial warfare. His creed is
" his idol. And while among the best proselytes
" we class many that are least versed in literary
" attainments, still among them we find liberally
" educated men, and those who have been ministers
" in other denominations — in fact there seems to be
" as fair a sample of intelligence, moral probity, and
" good citizenship, as can be found in any nominal
" Christian community.

" Sincerity and simplicity of purpose mark the
" masses, which virtues have been amply proved by
11 the sacrifices and suffering endured. And among
" the people, so submissive to counsel, are those
" who watch with eagle eye that first principles are
" adhered to, and stand ready to proclaim apostacy
" in chief or layman, and scrutinizing all revelations
" to discover whether they are from the Lord, or
" given, through his permission, by Satan, to test
" the fidelity and watchfulness of the disciples of
" truth. Litigation is much discouraged, and it is
" specially thought improper for brother to go to
" law with brother, and that before unbelievers ; so
" each bishop is a sort of county court judge be-
" tween man and man, with an appeal to the whole
" ' bench,' and a final resort to Brigham, who does
" good practical justice without any embarrassment
" from statute or common law.

" This people are jealous of their rights, and feel
" themselves entitled to enforce order by their own
" laws, and severely punish contempt of them. The

224 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

" administration of justice is of the most simple
" kind, and based on the equity and the merits of
" the question, without reference to precedents and
" technicalities, referring to the rules of the Mosaic
" Code, and its manner of punishment, when applic-
" able. Witnesses are seldom put on oath in the
" lower courts, and there is nothing known of the
" ' laws delay.' "

Another correspondent writing to a New York
paper said :

" It is now three years since the Mormons arrived
in Salt Lake valley, and their energy in laying out
a city, building, fencing farms, raising crops, &c, is
truly wonderful to behold, and is but another strik-
ing demonstration of the indefatigable enterprise,
industry, and perseverance of the Anglo-Saxon
race.

The Mormons, take them as a body, I truly be-
lieve are a most industrious people, and, I confess,
as intelligent as any I have met with when in the
East or West. It is true they are a little fanatical
about their religious views, which is not at all
strange when compared with the majority of reli-
gious denominations in the East. But let no man
be deceived in his estimation of the people who
have settled here. Any people who have the cour-
age to travel over plains, rivers and mountains, for
twelve hundred miles, such, probably, as cannot be
traveled over in any other part of the world, to
settle in a region which scarcely ever received the
tread of any but the wild savages and beasts who
roam the wilderness, must be possessed of an in-
domitable energy that is but rarely met with."

W. Kelty, in his " Excursions in California in the
Early Days," says :

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 225

" The houses are small, principally of adobes,
built up only as temporary abodes, until the more
urgent and important matter of inclosure and culti-
vation are attended to ; but I never saw anything
to surpass the ingenuity of arrangement with which
they are fitted up, and the scrupulous cleanliness
with which they are kept. There were tradesmen
and artizans of all descriptions, but no regular stores
or workshops, except forges. Still, from the shoe-
ing of a wagon to the mending of a watch, there
was no difficulty experienced in getting it done as
cheap and as well put out of hand as in any other
city in America. Notwithstanding the oppressing
temperature, they were all hard at work at their
trades, and abroad in the fields, weeding, moulding,
and irrigating ; and it certainly speaks volumes for
their energy and industry, to see the quantity of
land they have fenced in, and the breadth under
cultivation, considering the very short time since
they founded the settlement in 1847.

After bathing, we dressed in our best attire, and
prepared to attend the Mormon service, held for
the present in the large space adjoining the intended
Temple, which is only just above the foundations,
but will be a structure of stupendous proportions,
and, if finished according to the plan, of surpassing
elegance. I went early, and found a rostrum in
front of which there were rows of stools and chairs
for the townfolks ; those from the country, who
arrived in great numbers, in light wagons, sitting on
chairs, took up their stations in their vehicles in the
background, after unharnessing the horses. There
was a very large and most respectable congrega-
tion ; the ladies attired in rich and becoming cos-
tumes, each with parasols ; and I hope I may say,
without any imputation of profanity, a more be-
witching assemblage of the sex it has rarely been
my lot to look upon."

226 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

A still more important authority on Mormon
society, in the early days of Utah, was Captain
Stansbury, who was sent out by the government to
survey the lakes, accompanied by Lieutenant Gun-
nison. He says in his official report :

" The founding, within the space of three years,
of a large and flourishing community, upon a spot
so remote from the abodes of men, so completely
shut out by natural barriers from the rest of the
world, so entirely unconnected by water-courses with
either of the oceans that wash the shores of this
continent — a country offering no advantages of in-
land navigation or of foreign commerce, but, on the
contrary, isolated by vast uninhabited deserts, and
only to be reached by long, painful, and often
hazardous journeys by land — presents an anomaly
so very peculiar, that it deserves more than a pass-
ing notice. In this young and prosperous country
of ours, where cities grow up in a day, and States
spring up in a year, the successful planting of a
colony, where the natural advantages have been
such as to hold out the promise of adequate reward
to the projectors, would have excited no surprise ;
but the success of an enterprise under circumstances
so at variance with all our pre-conceived ideas of
its probability, may well be considered one of the
most remarkable incidents of the present age.

Their admirable system of combining labor, while
each has his own property, in lands and tenements,
and the proceeds of his industry, the skill in divid-
ing off the lands, and conducting the irrigating
canals to supply the want of rain, which rarely falls
between April and October ; the cheerful manner
in which every one applies himself industriously,
but not laboriously ; the complete reign of good
neighborhood and quiet in house and fields, form
themes for admiration to the stranger coming from

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 227

the dark and sterile recesses of the mountain gorges
into this flourishing valley ; and he is struck with
wonder at the immense results, produced in so short
a time, by a handful of individuals.

This is the result of the guidance of all those
hands by one master mind ; and we see a comfort-
able people residing where, it is not too much to
say, the ordinary mode of subduing and settling our
wild lands could never have been applied.

Nothing can exceed the appearance of prosperity,
peaceful harmony, and cheerful contentment that
pervaded the whole community. Ever since the
first year of privation provisions have been abun-
dant, and want of the necessaries and even comforts
of life is a thing unknown. A design was at one
time entertained (more, I believe, as a prospective
measure than anything else) to set apart a fund for
the purpose of erecting a poor-house ; but, after
strict inquiry it was found that there were in the
whole population but two persons who could be
considered objects of public charity, and the plan
was consequently abandoned.

This happy external state of universally diffused
prosperity, is commented on by themselves as an
evidence of the smiles of heaven, and of the special
favor of the deity ; but I think it may be most
clearly accounted for in the admirable discipline
and ready obedience of a large body of industrious
and intelligent men, and in the wise counsels of
prudent and sagacious leaders, producing a oneness
and concentration of action, the result of which has
astonished even those by whom it has been effected.
The happy consequences of this system of united
and well-directed action, under one leading and con-
troling mind, is most prominently apparent in the
erection of public buildings, opening of roads, the
construction of bridges, and the preparation of the
country for the speedy occupation of a large and
rapidly growing population, shortly to be still fur--

'2 28 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

ther augmented by an immigration even now on its
way, from almost every country in Europe.

The masses are sincere in their belief: if they
are credulous, and have been deceived by their
leaders, the sin, if any, rests on them. I firmly be-
lieve the people to be honest, and imbued with true
religious feelings ; and when we take into consider-
ation their general character previously, we cannot
but believe in their sincerity. Nine-tenths of this
vast population are the peasantry of Scotland,
England and Wales, originally brought up with
religious teaching at Protestant parish churches.
They place implicit faith in their leaders, who, in a
pecuniary point of view, have fulfilled their promise ;
each and all of them are comfortably provided with
land and tenements. At first they, of course, suffer
privation, until they build their houses, and reap
their crops, yet all their necessities in the meantime
are provided for by the Church, and in a social
point of view they are much happier than they
could ever hope to have been at their native homes.
From being tenants at the will of an imperious and
exacting landlord, they suddenly become landhold-
ers in their own right, free men, living on free soil,
under a free and enlightened Government.

Considering, again, how all efforts for the im-
provement of these advantages must necessarily be
self-dependent in such a place, one cannot say they
have been tardily developed. Indeed, to me, the
manufactures, few as they were, and the products
and settlements sprung up so extensively in so
short a time, spoke not of a sensual but of a thrifty
and industrious population, who, whatever may be
their delusions in matters of belief, or the corrupt-
ing influence of their customs, at least determined
to put their hands to the plow, and, looking forward,
to work, out of hardship and adversity, a comfort-
able, if not an enviable, prosperity. Observe Salt
Lake City — not a San Francisco, certainly — but re-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 229

member that eight years ago not a house stood
here, nor a stick, nor a stone to build one of.

The cheerful happy faces, the self-satisfied coun-
tenances, the cordial salutation of brother or sister
on all occasions of address, the lively strains of
music pouring forth from merry hearts in every
domicile, as women and children sing their " Songs
of Zion," while plying the domestic tasks, give an
expression of a happy society in the vales of
Deseret.

It certainly argued a high tone of morals, and an
habitual observance of good order and decorum, to
find women and children thus securely slumbering
in the midst of a large city, with no protection from
midnight molestation other than a wagon-cover of
linen, and the aegis of the law. In the very next
enclosure to that occupied by our party, a whole-
family of children had no other shelter than one of
these wagons, where they slept all the winter, liter-
ally out of doors, there being no communication
whatever with the inside of their parents' house.

All goods brought into the city pay, as the price
of a license, a duty of one per cent., except spiritu-
uous liquors, for which one half of the price at
which they are sold is demanded ; the object of this
last impost being avowedly to discourage the intro-
duction of that article among them. It has, indeed,,
operated to a great extent as a prohibition, the im-
porter, to save himself from loss, having to double
the price at which he could otherwise afford to sell.
The result of this policy was, when we were there,,
to bring up the price of brandy to twelve dollars
per gallon, of which the authorities took six, and
whisky to eight dollars, of which they collected four
dollars.

They have determined to keep themselves dis-
tinct from the vices of civilization. During a resi-
dence of ten weeks in Great Salt Lake City, and
my observations in all their various settlements,.

23O LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

amongst a homogeneous population of over seventy-
five thousand inhabitants, it is worthy of record
that I never heard any obscene or improper
language, never saw a man drunk, never had my
attention called to the exhibition of vice of any
sort. There are no gambling houses, grog shops,
or houses of ill fame in all their settlements.
They preach morality in their churches and from
their stands, and, what is as strange as it is true,
the people practice it, and religiously believe their
salvation depends on fulfilling the behests of the
religion they have adopted.

A liquor law enforced pretty strictly, compels
sobriety, which virtue is, therefore, no subject for
praise. Swearing, at least blasphemous swearing,
in the public streets, is prohibited under pain of a
five-dollar fine for each offence ; the fine is scarcely
ever imposed, but violation of the law is uncommon,
and very rarely in public or private do you hear an
oath. Theft, even in petty things, such as vegeta-
bles or fuel, is prevented, not by prosecution, but by
the known rule, that if a man steals two or three
times he is ordered to become honest or leave the
country for good. Not that Mormons ever pretend
there are no bad men among them ; nay, agreeable
to their principles, they will tell you that a Mormon,
if bad, will be worse than other men, because he
sins against greater light and knowledge, and after
receiving the Spirit of God. Confirmatory of this,
I have met at Salt Lake with two or three very
proper scoundrels ; but, taking the people all
around, I consider them as moral, industrious, fair-
dealing and hospitable a set as one is apt to fall in
with.

In social parties and lively meetings the Mor-
mons are pre-eminent, and their hospitality would
be more readily extended to strangers had they
suitable dwellings to invite them into. In their
social gatherings and evening parties, patronized by

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 23 1

the presence of the prophets and apostles, it is not
unusual to open the ball with prayer, asking the
blessing of God on their amusements, as well as
upon any other engagement ; and then will follow
the most sprightly dancing, in which all join with
hearty good will, from the highest dignitary to the
humblest individual ; and this exercise is to become
part of the temple-worship, to ' praise God in song
and dances.'

These private balls and soirees are frequently ex-
tended beyond the time of cock-crowing by the
younger members, and the remains of the evening
repast furnish the breakfast for the jovial guests.

Toward the end of April, 1854, about ten days
previous to the departure of Governor Brigham
Young, on his annual visit to the southern settle-
ments of Utah, tickets of invitation to a grand ball
were issued in his name. I had the honor to receive
one of them.

At the appointed hour I made my appearance,
chaperoned by Governor Young, who gave me a
general introduction. A larger collection of fairer
and more beautiful women I never saw in one
room. All of them were dressed in white muslin,
some with pink and others with blue sashes. Flow-
ers were the only ornaments in the hair. The ut-
most order and the strictest decorum prevailed.
Polkas and waltzes were not danced ; country
dances, cotillions, quadrilles, &c, were permitted.
At the invitation of Governor Young I opened the
ball with one of his wives. The Governor, with a
beautiful partner, stood vis-a-vis. An old-fashioned
cotillion was danced with much grace by the ladies,
and the Governor acquitted himself very well on
the ' light fantastic toe/ After several rounds of
dancing, a march was played by the band, and a pro-
cession was formed ; I conducted my first partner
to the supper room, where I partook of a fine enter-
tainment at the Governor's table. There must have

232 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

been at least two hundred ladies present, and about
one hundred gentlemen. I returned to my quarters
at twelve o'clock, most favorably impressed with the
exhibition of public society among the Mormons."

These pictures, from the pens of distinguished
travelers and newspaper correspondents, excellently
illustrate Mormon society, from the founding of
Utah to the date of the Buchanan expedition. A
fitting close is presented by the following testimony
of Stansbury :

" Before taking leave of the Mormon community,
whose history has been the subject of no little in-
terest in the country, I cannot but avail myself of
the opportunity again to acknowledge the constant
kindness and generous hospitality which has ever
been extended to the party during a sojourn of
rather more than a year among them. The most
disinterested efforts were made to afford us, both
personally and officially, all the aids and facilities
within the power of the people, as well to forward
our labors as to contribute to our comfort and en-
joyment. Official invitations were sent by the
authorities to the officers of the party engaged in
distant duties on the lake, to participate in the cele-
bration of their annual jubilee, on the 24th of July,
and an honorable position was assigned them in the
procession on- that occasion. Upon our final depar-
ture, w T e were followed with the kindest expressions
of regard, and of anxious hopes for the safety and
welfare of the party upon its homeward journey..
Though this people fled to a foreign country to
enjoy the liberty that persecution denied them in
the States, as soon as they found that their adopted
land had come under the jurisdiction of the stars
and stripes, which consummation their own valor in
the army of the Pacific had helped to effect, they

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 233

embraced 'the earliest opportunity of declaring their
adherence to the great charter of liberty and na-
tional glory, and announced to the world that it
was given to our patriot fathers by divine inspira-
tion, and that they would uphold and defend it,
though all the original parties should secede and
trample it under foot.

They will make no law forbidden by the sacred
constitution of the United States, and they predict
that the day is not far distant when they will be
solicited by patriotic American citizens to descend
from their rocky fastnesses to enforce its provi-
sions among those led astray by frantic political
delusion."

CHAPTER XIV.

VIEWS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG AS GOVERNOR. CORRES-
PONDENCE OF COLONEL KANE WITH PRESIDENT
FILLMORE. ARRIVAL OF COLONEL STEPTOE AND
HIS REGIMENT. PRESIDENT PIERCE TENDERS THE
GOVERNORSHIP OF UTAH TO STEPTOE .: HE RE-
FUSES AND PETITIONS THE PRESIDENT FOR THE
RE-APPOINTMENT OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. PIERCE
RE-APPOINTS HIM.

Captain Stansbury, in his official report to the
government, giving his views and testimony relative
to Brigham, both as the leader of the Mormon
people and the Governor of Utah, says :

" Upon the personal character of the leader of thi*
singular people, it may not, perhaps, be proper fo?
me to comment in a communication like the pres-
ent. I may, nevertheless, be pardoned for saying,
that to me, President Young appeared to be a man
of clear, sound sense, fully alive to the responsibili-
ties of the station he occupies, sincerely devoted to
the good name of the people over whom he pre-
sides, sensitively jealous of the least attempt to
under-value or misrepresent them, and indefatigable
in devising ways and means for their moral, mental,
and physical elevation. He appeared to possess
the unlimited personal and official confidence of his
people ; while both he and his councilors, forming
the Presidency of the Church, seem to have but one

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 235

object in view, the prosperity and peace of the
Society over which they preside.

Upon the action of the Executive in the appoint-
ment of the officers within the newly-created Terri-
tory, it does not become me to offer other than a
very diffident opinion. Yet the opportunities of in-
formation to which allusion has already been made,
may perhaps justify me in presenting the result of
my own observations upon this subject. With all
due deference, then, I feel constrained to say, that
in my opinion the appointment of the President of
the Mormon Church, and the head of the Mormon
community, in preference to any other person, to
the high office of Governor of the Territory, inde-
pendent of its political bearings, with which I have
nothing to do, was a measure dictated alike by
justice and by sound policy. Intimately connected
with them from their exodus from Illinois, this man
has been indeed their Moses, leading them through
the wilderness to a remote and unknown land, where
they have since set up their tabernacle, and where
they are now building their temple. Resolute in
danger, firm and sagacious in council, prompt and
energetic in emergency, and enthusiastically devoted
to the honor of his people, he had won their un-
limited confidence, esteem and veneration, and held
an unrivaled place in their hearts. Upon the estab-
lishment of the provisional government, he had
been unanimously chosen as their highest civil
magistrate, and even before his appointment by the
President, he combined in his own person the trip!e
character of confidential adviser, temporal ruler, and
prophet of God. Intimately acquainted with their
character, capacities, -wants, and weaknesses ; identi-
fied now with their prosperity, as he had formerly
shared to the full in their adversities and sorrows;
honored, trusted, — the whole wealth of the commu-
nity placed in his hands, for the advancement both
of the spiritual and temporal interest of the infant

236 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

settlement, he was, surely, of all others, the man
best fitted to preside, under the auspices of the
general government, over a colony of which he may
justly be said to have been the founder. No other
man could have so entirely secured the confidence
of the people ; and the selection by the Executive
of the man of their choice, besides being highly
gratifying to them, is recognized as an assurance
that they shall hereafter receive at the hands of the
general government that justice and consideration
to which they are entitled. Their confident hope
now is that, no longer fugitives and outlaws, but
dwelling beneath the broad shadow of the national
aegis, they will be subject no more to the violence
and outrage which drove them to seek a secure
habitation in this far distant wilderness."

Chief Justice Reed, shortly after his arrival in
Utah, wrote as follows :

11 I waited on His Excellency, Governor Young,
exhibited to him my commission, and by him was
duly sworn and installed as Chief Justice of Utah.
I was received by Governor Young with marked
courtesy and respect. He has taken pains to make
my residence here agreeable. The Governor, in
manners and conversation, is a polished gentleman,
very neat and tasty in dress, easy and pleasant in
conversation, and I think a man of decided talent
and strong intellectual qualities. In person he
very strongly resembles our deceased fellow citizen,
W. W. McCay. I have heard him address the
people once on the subject of man's free agency.
He is a very excellent speaker. His gesture un-
commonly graceful, articulation distinct, and speech
pleasant. His voice resembles very much Judge
Hiram Gray, of Elmira. I was extremely edified by
his address and manner. The Governor is a first-
rate business man. As civil Governor of the Terri-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 237

tory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, we would
naturally suppose he had as much to do as one
man could well attend to ; but in addition to those
employments, he is also President of the Church —
a station which is no sinecure by any means. His
private business is extensive ; he owns several grist
and saw mills, is extensively engaged in farming
operations, all of which he superintends personally. I
have made up my mind that no man has been more
grossly misrepresented than Governor Young, and
that he is a man who will reciprocate kindness and
good intentions as heartily and as freely as any one,
but if abused, or crowded hard, I think he may be
found exceedingly hard to handle."

Under date of July nth, 185 1, Colonel Thomas
L. Kane, then residing in Philadelphia, addressed
the following to President Fillmore :

"My Dear Sir: I have no wish to evade the
responsibility of having vouched for the character
of Brigham Young, of Utah, and his fitness for the
station he now occupies. I reiterate, without re-
serve, the statement of his excellent capacity, energy
and integrity, which I made you prior to his ap-
pointment. I am willing to say I volunteered to
communicate to you the facts by which I was con-
vinced of his patriotism and devotion to the interest
of the Union. I made no qualification when I
assured you of his irreproachable moral character,
because I was able to speak of this from my own
intimate personal knowledge.

I have not yet heard a single charge against them
as a community, against their habitual purity of life,
their integrity of dealing, their toleration of differ-
ences of religious opinions, their regard for the
laws, or their devotion to the constitutional govern-
ment under which we live, that I do not, from my
own observation, or the testimony of others, know

238 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG \ OR,

to be unfounded. * * * Can charges which are
so commonly and so circumstantially laid, be with-
out any foundation at all? I know it. Upon my
return from the prairie, I met through the settle-
ments scandalous stories against the President of
the sect, which dated of the precise period when I
myself was best acquainted with his self-denying
and blameless life. I had an experience no less
satisfactory with regard to other falsehoods, some
of them the most extravagant and most widely
believed. During the sickness I have referred to, I
was nursed by a dear lady, well connected in New
York and New Jersey, whom I sufficiently name to
many by stating that she was the first cousin of one
of our most respected citizens, whose conduct as
chief magistrate of Philadelphia, in an excited time,
won for him our general esteem. In her exile she
found her severest sufferings in the belief that her
friends in the States looked upon her as an irre-
claimable outcast. It was one of the first duties I
performed on my return, to enlighten them as to
her true position, and the character of her exem-
plary husband ; and the knowledge of this fact
arrived in time, I believe, to be of comfort to her
before she sank under the privation and hardships
of the march her frame was too delicate to endure."

To this may be added Colonel Kane's testimony
of the Mormons as a people : he said, upon the
delivery of his famous discourse before the Histo-
rical Society of Pennsylvania :

" I have been annoyed by comments this hastily
written discourse has elicited ; well-meaning friends
have even invited me to tone down its remarks in
favor of the Mormons, for the purpose of securing
them a readier acceptance.

I can only make them more express. The truth

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 239

must take care of itself. I not only meant to deny-
that the Mormons, in any wise, fall below our stan-
dard of morals, but I would be distinctly understood
to ascribe to those of their number with whom I
associated in the West, a general correctness of
deportment and purity of character above the
average of ordinary communities.

It is observed to me, with a vile meaning, that I
have said little about the Mormon women. I have
scarcely alluded to them, because my memories of
them are such that I cannot think of their charac-
ter as a theme for discussion. In one word, it was
eminently that for which Americans dignify the
names of mother, wife, and sister. Of the self-
denying generosity, which went to enoble the whole
people in my eyes, I witnessed among them the
highest illustrations. I have seen the ideal charity
of the statue gallery surpassed by the young Mor-
mon mother, who shared with the strangers orphan
the breast of milk of her own child."

In 1854, Lieut.-Col. E. J. Steptoe, with his com-
mand, arrived in Salt Lake City, and the term of
Governor Young's appointment expiring about this
time, President Pierce tendered the office to Col.
Steptoe ; but he was a gentleman, and a true Re-
publican, and he had too much wisdom withal to
accept the honor, for he knew that Brigham was the
choice of the people. The following document,
expressive of the movement which he inspired, will
be of interest at this point :

To His Excellency, Franklin Pierce, President of

the United States :

Your petitioners would respectfully represent

24O LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

that, whereas Governor Brigham Young possesses
the entire confidence of the people of this Terri-
tory, without distinction of party or sect ; and from
personal acquaintance and social intercourse we
find him to be a firm supporter of the constitution
and laws of the United States, and a tried pillar of
Republican institutions ; and having repeatedly
listened to his remarks, in private as well as in
public assemblies, do know he is the warm friend
and able supporter of constitutional liberty, the
rumors published in the States notwithstanding ;
and having canvassed to our satisfaction his doings
as Governor, and Superintendent of Indian affairs,
and also the disposition of the appropriation for
public buildings for the Territory ; we do most
cordially and cheerfully represent that the same has
been expended to the best interest of the nation ;
and whereas his re-appointment would subserve the
Territorial interest better than the appointment of
any other man, and would meet with the gratitude
of the entire inhabitants of the Territory, and his
removal would cause the deepest feeling of sorrow
and regret ; and it being our unqualified opinion,
based upon the personal acquaintance which we
have formed with Governor Young, and from our
observation of the results of his influence and ad-
ministration in this Territory, that he possess in an
eminent degree every qualification necessary for the
discharge of his official duties, and unquestioned
integrity and ability, that he is decidedly the
most suitable person that can be selected for that
office.

We therefore take pleasure in recommending
him to your favorable consideration, and do earn-
estly request his re-appointment as Governor, and
Superintendent of Indian affairs for this Territory

This document was signed by Col. Steptoe and
every other U. S. Army officer in the Territory, as

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 241

well as by all of the Federal civil officials, and by
every merchant and prominent citizen of Salt Lake
City. President Pierce accordingly re-appointed
Governor Young.

CHAPTER XV.

THE NATIONAL MISSION OF THE MORMONS. THEIR
ISRAELITISH GENIUS AND DESTINY. THEY BE-
LIEVE IN THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO
FOUND A STATE OF THE UNION. A VIEW PRE-
PARATORY TO THE " UTAH WAR."

Distasteful as the fact may be, the United States
Government has been worsted in its conflict with.
Mormonism. There has been no parallel case since
ancient Israel arose to perplex the gentile world
with prophecies of a rival destiny and an extra-
ordinary career under a Divine leadership. That
Israelitish nationality was, indeed, a peculiar nation-
ality. It was the very prototype of Mormon
genius ; in fact it has had no strict antetype but in
the rise, progress and history of the Mormon
people.

Israel was, from its birth, unlike all other nations.
It was cradled in the heart of an old empire ; a
national destiny was nascent within it ; a transcend-
ent blessing was upon its head. Ever was it the
peculiar nation — a kingdom within a kingdom ; its
empire the whole world ; its God unlike all other
gods ; its genius as extraordinary as it was dis-
tinctive.

And now, here, in modern times, appears another

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 243

Israel — the Mormon Israel. He is no accident, but
a Divine intending. He blunders not into his des-
tiny, even in his ignorance ; he is not unshaped
even in his primitive simplicity. He claims his
destiny at his birth ; he (arrogantly, if you please,)
asserts his national mission to all the world, and
especially to all America. All that the historian
knows to be true of ancient Israel, the imagination
may affirm of the Mormon Israel ; and, what the
latter seems to lack in his race example, he makes
up in his mystical claim of being the literal seed of
Abraham, mixed among the nations to fulfill a provi-
dential design.

Meeting a possible issue in the most practical
sense, it is fair to claim for the Mormons that they are
not mere church-builders, but the founders of a new
empire ; not a mere sect, but a nation ; having a dis-
tinctive providence and an inevitable destiny. While
in Missouri and Illinois, their desire to found a
commonwealth could, with some consistency, be
denied, but in Utah the case was changed. They
undoubtedly had the constitutional right, if as a
people they had the social force and capacity, to
there found a State with all the functions of self-
government. Nor is this condition of imperium in
imperio an anomaly in America, so long as it has.
a republican meaning. Our Republic is many
nations within one grand confederation, and that,
too, in so broad a sense as to permit the multiplica-
tion and subdivision of its members.

Born, then, in a newly-created republican empire,
whose very destiny and enlargement grows out of
its condition of generation, the Mormon believes he.

244 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

has the natural privilege to beget one of the family
of States. To found a State is, indeed, his privilege,
but he believes it is also his mission ; yet is his
mission based upon the idea of a republican con-
federation, and not upon that of an independent
kingdom. Those who have understood his theoc-
racy in any other sense have misconceived it sadly.
He is simply an apostle of a republican nationality,
manifold in its genius ; or, in popular words, he is
the chief apostle of State rights, by Divine appoint-
ment. He has the mission, he affirms, and has been
endowed with the inspiration to preach the gospel
of a true democracy to the nation, as well as the
gospel for the remission of sins, and he believes the
United States will ultimately need his ministration
in both respects.

And the Mormon reconciles his national mission
in the union of States, constitutionally, and with
historical consistency. In the most practical lan-
guage, he will tell you that the Lord, in times past,
in the heart of old empires and nations, was not
able to establish Divine government ; but that in
this age, in a vast and virgin country like the
United States, the Lord found the opportunity. To
fulfill his purpose, he inspired the fathers of this
nation, in the framing of the constitution ; and in
due time he raised up the Mormon people to evolve
an apostolic commonwealth and leaven the Union.
They form not, therefore, a rival power as against
the Union, but an apostolic ministry to it, and their
political gospel is State rights and self-government.
This is political Mormonism in a nutshell.

Urged on by politicians, and stimulated by the

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 245

anti-Mormon jealousies of the country, President
Buchanan affirmed by all the preliminary action and
intention of war, that the Mormon commonwealth
should not be allowed to fulfill the destiny that was
marked out in the mission of the great American
prophet. Nor is it strange that America should
object to the Divine leadership of modern Israel ;
yet if the Mormons knew " the Divine call " to be
thus apostolic to the whole confederation, there is
nothing in the genius of our Republic, nor in the
purview of the national compact, to make that mis-
sion inconsistent. So long as one State does not
make war upon a sister State, nor antagonize the
covenant of the Union, but, on the contrary, seeks
to be as an apostolic minister, glorifying the na-
tion in her examples of a civilization suited to the
providential impulses of the age, such a State would
certainly have the constitutional privilege so to do.
Indeed, is not the very existence and growth of the
American Republic prophetic of a new civilization
and a national mission such as the Mormon people
affirm ? The elders have believed so ; and Bricjham
Young, in behalf of his people, has, in an unmis-
takable record, proclaimed to the world that the
Mormons shall fulfill their mission, with or without
the consent of the United States. This is the whole
burden of the history.

Great as Brigham Young was in the exodus of j
this people from their Egypt, his power seems to
have found its culmination in the Utah war. Not
only did he then show himself to be equal to the
leadership of a people, but abundantly able to
grapple with the most gigantic besetments. Intelli-

246 ^IFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

gent readers will also note the fact that, in every
stage and phase of the history of the Mormons,
from the time they numbered but six members, to
this very moment, their every crisis has given to
them an enlarged outcoming and a more world-wide
name.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE PIONEER JUBILEE. CELEBRATION OF THEIR
TENTH ANNIVERSARY. ARRIVAL OF MESSENGERS
WITH THE NEWS OF THE COMING OF AN INVAD-
ING ARMY. THE DAY OF JUBILEE CHANGED TO
A DAY OF INDEPENDENCE.

The people were celebrating the twenty-fourth of
July — the anniversary of the pioneers — in Big Cot-
tonwood Canyon, when the news reached them of
the coming of the troops to invade their homes.

They had conquered the desert. Cities were fast
springing up in the solitary places, where cities had
never been planted before, and in valleys that had
once been the bed of the great sea, civilization
was spreading. v

A plentiful harvest was promised that year, and
every circumstance of their situation seemed favor-
able, except the lack of postal communication with
the East. Their isolation, in this particular, had
kept them in ignorance, up to that time, of the
movements of the Government concerning them.

On the 22d of July, 1857, numerous teams were
seen wending their way, by different routes, to the
mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, where they
halted for the night. Next morning Governor
Young led the van of the long line of carriages and

248 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OK,

wagons, and before noon the cavalcade reached the
camp ground at the Cottonwood Lake, which nestles
in the bosom of the mountain, 8,000 feet above the
level of the sea. Early in the afternoon, the com-
pany, numbering 2,587 persons, encamped, and soon
all were busy with the arrangements for the morrow*
It will be seen, at a glance, that this was intended
to be a pioneer's jubilee indeed ; not in a city, but
in primitive surroundings, suggestive of their en-
trance into these valleys ten years before.

There were in attendance: Captain Ballo's band,
the Nauvoo brass band, the Ogden City brass band,
and the Great Salt Lake City and Ogden martial
bands; also, of the military, the 1st company of
light artillery, under Adjutant-General James Fer-
guson ; a detachment of four platoons of life guards
and one platoon of the lancers, under Colonel
Burton ; and one company of light infantry, under
Captain John W.Young. Colonel J. C. Little was
marshal of the day.

Early on the following morning the people
assembled, and the choir sang :

" On the mountain tops appearing."

Then, after prayers, the stars and stripes were
unfurled on the two highest peaks, in sight of the
camp, on two of the tallest trees. At 20 minutes
past nine a. m., three rounds from the artillery
saluted the First Presidency, and at a quarter past
ten three rounds were given for the " Hope of
Israel." Captain John W. Young, with his company
of light infantry, answered to this last salute, and
went through their military evolutions to the admi-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 249

ration of the beholders. This company numbered
fifty boys, at about the age of twelve, who had been
uniformed by Governor Young.

At noon, Bishop A. O. Smoot, Elder Judson
Stoddard, Judge Elias Smith, and O. P. Rockwell,
rode into camp, the two former from the " States "
(Missouri River), in twenty days. They brought
news of the coming of the troops. It was the first
tidings of war. Any other people in the world
would have been stricken with a terrible fear ; but
not so these Mormon Saints. The well-known war
cry of Cromwell, when he entered into battle, " The
Lord of Hosts is with, us!" was the undaunted ex-
clamation of every heart, and soon it was the burden
of every speech.

In a moment the festive song was changed to the
theme of war ; the jubilee of a people swelled into a
sublime declaration of independence. Never before
did such a spirit of heroism so suddenly and com-
pletely possess an entire community. Men and
women shared it alike. Brigham was among them
like an archangel of God. As a Moses he had led
modern Israel in their exodus ; like a David he was
now called to deliver them from the overwhelming
hosts that the United States could marshal against
them.

To say that the Mormons were taken with aston-
ishment would be to misstate the case. They had
long looked for this issue. They had seen mobs
marshaled against them from the beginning, but
they had also been told by the Prophet Joseph,
early in his career, that " Some day they would see
" the United States come against them in war, and

250 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

" that the Lord should deliver them and bring glory
" to His name." Nothing more unlikely could have
been uttered by this prophet of a few hundred dis-
ciples ; as likely was it that the stars of heaven
should make war upon the earth in impotent wrath.
They were not even in a location at that time where
this was possible. The very prophecy foreshadowed
their removal to the mountains, as though to invite
the nation to the issue ; and its fulfillment bespoke
a destiny in them superior to the destiny even of
the United States. The nation was now coming
against them, to verify the prophecy in the most
literal manner. Hence, doubtless, the extraordinary
trust and fortitude of the people, and the self-pos-
session of their leaders. They had no doubt as to
the issue, though how God would work out their
deliverance they saw not fully.

Everything the Mormons did at that time was done
in the most deliberate earnestness. Two messen-
gers were immediately dispatched to England, to
call home the American elders in Europe, and ten
thousand British Saints would have gathered that
year, had it been possible, to share the fate of their
brethren and sisters in the mountains ; but all emi-
gration was, of course, now cut off. Never was there
so much enthusiasm in the foreign missions as then.
One could judge of the sublime enthusiasm at home
by that which animated the Saints abroad. Yet
they saw a mighty nation moving against the handful
in the mountains, and moving with a settled resolve
to annihilate the Mormon power at once and for-
ever, leaving no seed on American territory from
which that power might re-germinate. The papers

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 25 1

of America and Europe teemed with these anticipa-
tions. It was broadly suggested that volunteers
from every State should pour into Utah, make short
work of the Saints, possess their cities, fill their
Territory with a gentile population, and take their
wives and daughters as spoil, thus breaking up the
polygamic institution. For a time there was a
prospect of this. Tens of thousands were eager
for this thorough work of regeneration for Utah ;
and, had the Government dared to encourage it, the
attempt would have been made. For such a crusade,
however, a civilized judgment could have found no
excuse, not even on the plea of rebellion. At least,
President Buchanan was made to see this much,
and to appreciate that he could only use United
States regular troops, and these only in the guise
of 3, posse comitatus to the new Governor.

That Brigham Young could have been- " as serene
as a Summers day," under such circumstances, is
one of the marvels of history, and one of the mar- /
vels of character. But he meant war with the
United States after his own Mosaic methods. He
knew from the first that he had the President of
the United States at his mercy. His affirmation
that he should " whip " their armies if they came
against him was no rebellious utterance, but a simple
statement of what was coming to pass. He under-
stood himself, and understood his people, and knew
that they also understood him.

The man resolved on an exodus again, if the
need came, and resolved to leave Utah in ashes — a
desolation that would have damned, in history, the
conduct of a great and once exemplary Republic,

1

252 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

Nor was he a mere copyist of the Moses of Israel,
or the Alexander of Russia. Exoduses had been
forced upon him. They came as the natural
methods of his life. He had become a master of
them, and was learned in their results. The heroic
resolve would have started into the mans brain and
purposed action, even though no blazing Moscow
had confirmed the genius of the Russian Emperor.
And Brigham and his people were justified in
such a method of warfare against the United States.
No matter how good the claim had been of Louis
XIV to any part of the Netherlands, or the plausi-
ble right of a greater power to subdue a lesser one,
all our sympathies go out to William of Orange
and his Dutch. When the young Dutch hero pulled
up the dykes and submerged Holland, he conquered
both France and Spain. Luxemburg, Conde and
Louis himself were beaten, very much as Brigham
beat Colonel Alexander, General Johnston and
President Buchanan. And when a leader is found
great enough, and a people devoted and heroic
enough, to rise to such examples, the historian
must justify them, for posterity will surely do as
much. Thus will the Mormons be justified for
what they did in the " Utah war."

CHAPTER XVII.

THE UTAH EXPEDITION. MAD POLICY OF BUCHANAN
IN SENDING AN ARMY BEFORE A COMMISSION OF
INVESTIGATION. THE PRIESTS AND JOURNALISTS
OF AMERICA AND GREAT BRITAIN EXULTANT OVER
THE PROSPECT OF THE EXTINCTION OF THE MOR-
MONS. THE TWO GOVERNORS. HOW BRIGHAM
MET THE ISSUE. THE SAINTS RESOLVE TO LAY
THEIR CITIES WASTE AND TAKE REFUGE IN THE
MOUNTAINS. ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN VAN VLIET.
THE MORMON LEADER SENDS A RIGHTEOUS DE-
FIANCE AND REBUKE TO THE GOVERNMENT.
GOVERNOR YOUNG PROCLAIMS TO THE PEOPLE
THAT THEY ARE UNLAWFULLY INVADED, AND
PLACES THE TERRITORY UNDER MARTIAL LAW.
HIS LAST MESSAGE TO THE LEGISLATURE.

Apart from all considerations of justice, nothing
could have been more impolitic, in " solving the
Mormon problem," than for the Administration to
conclude that Utah was in rebellion, before a com-
mission of investigation had so determined ; and
evidently any subsequent event, growing out of a war
movement on the part of the Government at that
time, could not militate against the previous good
intentions and loyalty of the people ; and nothing
could have been more illogical than to assume

/

254 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

that the Mormons had rejected a Governor be-
fore that Governor had been sent to them, or
even appointed ; yet the Utah expedition was
projected and in process of organization for actual
war before Governor dimming received his ap-
pointment. The pretence for such action was fur-
nished by Associate-Justice Drummond, who re-
ported that some Mormons had burned the govern-
ment records. It was also reported that Brigham
Young had declared that he was, and would con-
tinue to be, the Governor of the Mormons, the
Government of the United States to the contrary
notwithstanding. The sequel proved that the
records were not burned, but were in careful preser-
vation, and that the new Governor was loyally
received ; and it can be further maintained that
from first to last he enjoyed the most satisfactory
relations with the Mormons.

The whole affair of the Utah expeditition shows
upon its face, from the inception, not that the Mor-
mons were in rebellion, but that the Government,
desirous of grappling with this " peculiar people,"
assumed as much, on purpose to force them into
that attitude. The first question seems to have
been, "Will Brigham Young fight?" It was the
very question put, in later years, in those exact,
words, by Vice-President Colfax, and which w r as the
practical commencement of General Grant's crusade
against the Mormons. Of course the answer in
Buchanans time was that Brigham Young would
fight. The Mormons could do nothing else, unless
they tamely consented to give up their religious
institutions, or remove from American territory-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 255

The former they could not do ; the latter they
would not. But it was thought by the aggressors
that in any case an easy conquest would be made,
and that the cost to the United States would have
its compensation. A Territory with the basework
of a hundred and fifty cities already laid would be
deserted by the Mormons ; the mineral backbone
of the continent would be left for the Gentiles, and
" 'civilization " — heaven save the mark ! — would be
rid of the Mormons and Mormonism forever.
Hence the Utah expedition !

Such views and speculations (as stated in the
preceding chapter), some of them of the wildest and
most inhuman kind, found eager expression in the
newspapers of this country and Great Britain, and
were pronounced from a thousand American pul-
pits. Extermination was seriously contemplated,
and a very popular view was, that the unmarried
soldiers should, on the conquest, take the Mormon
wives and daughters as spoil.

« Notwithstanding the final abortive termination
of that expedition, productive only of disaster to
its members, and of humiliation to the nation, noth-
ing could have been more popular, at first, than was
the Buchanan movement against the Mormons.
But deserved failure came, and the Administration
was covered with shame.

The action of Governor Young and the Mor-
mons, judged by the facts, is seen to be the legiti-
mate result of sufficient cause. Such also must be
the conclusion with regard to the action of the
Indians, whose untutored .and revengeful natures
were exercised to a high pitch, by the marching of

256 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

troops across the plains to make war upon the Mor-
mons. The opporhtnity was given them, by the
United States Government, for vengeance upon the
whites. And let it not be forgotten that this expe-
dition was placed under the command of General
Harney, more familiarly known, because of his In-
dian butcheries, as the " Squaw Killer." The effect
upon the Indians of this " Mormon war," and the
appointment of the " Squaw Killer " General, can
well be imagined. Nor need we leave it to imagi-
nation alone, for there were substantial and terrible
results. No sooner had the expedition started than
delegations of chiefs and noted Indian warriors
came, from every direction, to offer to Governor
Young their services and the alliance of their tribes.
They came from the- Colorado, from the Missouri,
from the Columbia, from the Platte, from Nevada ;
and, had they been encouraged by Governor Young,
would surely have gathered, with their forces, from
every part of America, and struck for a common
vengeance. It must not be forgotten that the Book
of Mormon is professedly the history of the abori-
gines of this continent ; that the Indians know of
this ; that thousands of them indeed believe that
book to be the sacred legacy of their forefathers.
Couple with this the fact that since the exodus of
the Mormons from Nauvoo, and their sojourn with
the Indians in the wilderness, the red men have
looked upon them as their brothers — like them-
selves, intolerably wronged and outraged, yet long
suffering — and it is certain that an alliance between
the Mormons and the Indian tribes, all over the
continent, would have been as strong and natural as
it would have been formidable.

UTAH AND. HER FOUNDERS. 257

In this war of extermination upon the Mormons j
the Indians recognized a distinct premonition of
their own doom, and hence their vengeful desire for
an alliance with Brigham Young and his people.
But at this juncture Brigham Young desired above
most things that the Indians should keep the peace,
and quietly await the development of results.
These, therefore, were not the instruments he re-
quired at that critical moment. He could control
his own people in their supremest wrath, and under
a madness of wrongs such as probably no other
people in the world could have borne with control
(the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith proves
this) ; but had those Indian tribes been once set on
their work of slaughter and desolation, nothing
could have stayed their hands ; they, or their ene-
mies must have perished utterly. That was the
only view which they were sensible of or capable of
taking. It is singular that these significant facts
should have received so little attention in connec-
tion with the investigation of the Mountain Meadow
massacre. Is it because those who did so much to
create and inspire that condition of things, appreci-
ate that in coming to the just view, they take upon
their ow7i shoulders the responsibility of that awful
deed ?

" Go home," said Brigham Young to those dele-
gations of Indian chiefs, " and live in peace with the
" whites, and live in peace with each other. The
" Lord — the Great Spirit — will fight the battles of
" the Mormons, and fight the battles of the Indians,
" if you will all go home and live in peace with one
" another, and let the whites alone."

258 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

Had a desolating war upon his people once fairly-
begun, Brigham Young would have counseled the
Indians differently. Imagine the two hundred cities
and settlements of Utah in ashes, and those desert
valleys, which had been made to blossom as the
rose, baptized in. blood ; imagine the women and <
children hidden in the caves and canyons of the
mountains ; imagine a guerrilla army of ten thousand •
brave men, righteously fulfilling their mission of
vengeance ! Then let fancy complete the picture
by bringing all the Indian warriors of the continent -
into an alliance with the Mormons ! Had there been
thereafter a thousand Mountain Meadow massacres >■
by the Indians, the people of the United States
would have simply taken the consequences of their
own conduct. The Government that instigated the ■
war, the priests and editors who inspired it, and the
people who sanctioned it would have been guilty
of those massacres — not Brigham Young and the
Mormons.

The sentiments that actuated the Mormon com-
munity at that time were of no doubtful tenor, as.,
may be judged by the following extracts from Brig-,
hams discourses to his people :

" Liars have reported that this people have com-..
" mitted treason, and upon their misrepresentations
" the President has ordered out troops to aid in
" officering this Territory. If those officers are like
" many who have previously been sent here — and
11 we have reason to believe that they are, or they
" would not come were they know they are not.
" wanted — they are poor, broken down political.
*' hacks, not fit for the civilized society whence they.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 259

" came, and so they are dragooned upon us for
" officers. I feel that I won't bear such treatment
" (and that is enough to say), for we are just as free
11 as the mountain air. * * * This people are
11 free ; they are not in bondage to any Government
11 on God's footstool. We , have transgressed no
" law, neither do we intend so to do ; but as for any
" nation coming to destroy this people, God Al-
" mighty being my helper, it shall not be ! * * *
" We have borne enough of their oppression and
11 abuse, and we will not bear any more of it, for
" there is no just law requiring further forbearance
11 on our part. And I am not going to permit
" troops here for the protection of the priests and
11 the rabble in their efforts to drive us from the
" land we possess. The Lord does not want us to
" be driven, for He has said, ' If you will assert
" ' your rights, and keep my commandments, you
" ' shall never again be brought into bondage by
" ' your enemies.' " ** * They say that the
" coming of their army is legal ; and I say that it is
11 not ; they who say it are morally rotten. Come
" on with your thousands of illegally-ordered troops,
" and I promise you, in the name of Israel's God,
" that they shall melt away as the snow before a
" July sun. * : * You might as well tell me
" that you can make hell into a powder-house as to
11 tell me that they intend to keep an army here and
11 have peace ! * * * I have told you that if
11 this people will live their religion all will be well ;
" and I have told you that if there is any man or
" woman who is not willing to destroy everything
" of their property that would be of use to art

260 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

" enemy if left, I would advise them to leave the
41 Territory. And I again say so to-day ; for when
" the time comes to burn and lay waste our im-
41 provements, if any man undertakes to shield his
" he will be treated as a traitor ; for 'judgment will
" ' be laid to the line, and righteousness to the
" c plummet.' * * * Now the faint-hearted can
" go in peace ; but should that time come, they
41 must not interfere. Before I will again suffer as I
" have in times gone by there shall not one build-
"" ing, nor one foot of lumber, nor a fence, nor a
41 tree, nor a particle of grass or hay, that will burn,
4i be left in reach of our enemies. I am sworn, if
41 driven to extremity, to utterly lay waste this land
41 in the name of Israel's God, and our enemies
41 shall find it as barren as when we came here."

It was at such a moment, as the picture suggests,
that Capt. Van Vliet arrived in the city of the Saints.
The Governor, the Lieut-General, Adjt.-General
Ferguson, and the Apostles, received him with
marked cordiality, but with an open programme.
They took him into their gardens. The sisters
showed him the paradise that their woman hands
would destroy if that invading army came. He was
awed by the prospect — his ordinary judgment con-
founded by such extraordinary examples. To the
wife of Albert Carrington, in whose garden he was
walking, in conversation with the Governor and his
party, he exclaimed :

" What, madam ! would you consent to see this
41 beautiful home in ashes and this fruitful orchard
" destroyed ? "

" Yes ! " answered Sister Carrington, with heroic

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 26 1

resolution, " I would not only consent to it, but I
" would set fire to my home with my own hands
11 and cut down every tree and root up every
" plant ! "

Captain Van Vliet thus reported to the command-
ing general of the army :

" He (Governor Young) stated that the Mormons
had been persecuted, murdered and robbed in Mis-
souri and Illinois, by the mob and the State author-
ities, and that now the United States were about
to pursue the same course, and that, therefore, he
and the people of Utah had determined to resist all
persecution at the commencement, and that the
troops now on the march for Utah should not enter
the Salt Lake valley. As he uttered these words
all there present concurred most heartily in what he
said. * * •* In the course of my conversation
with the Governor, and the influential men in the
Territory, I told them plainly and frankly what I
conceived would be the result of their present
course. I told them that they might prevent the
small military force now approaching Utah from
getting through the narrow defiles and rugged
passes of the mountains this year, but that next
season the United States Government would send
troops sufficient to overcome all opposition. The
answer to this was invariably the same : ' We are
aware that such will be the case, but when those
troops arrive, they will find Utah a desert, every
house will be burned to the ground, every tree cut
down, and every field laid waste. We have pro-
visions on hand for years to come, which we will
cache, and then take to the mountains, and bid
defiance to all the powers of the Government'

I attended their service on Sunday, and in the
course of a- sermon delivered by Elder Taylor, he
referred to the approach of the troops, and declared

262 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

they should not enter the Territory. He then re-
ferred to the probability of an overpowering force
being sent against them, and desired all present
who would apply the torch to their own buildings,
cut down their trees, and lay waste their fields, to
hold up their hands — every hand, in an audience
numbering over four thousand persons, was raised
at the same moment."

The following extracts from conversations between
Governor Young and Captain Van Vliet, on the
1 2th and 13th of August, 1857, will be of interest,
inasmuch as they were had previous to the receipt,
in Salt Lake City, of the news of the Mountain
Meadow massacre. Although now for the first time
given to the public, their accuracy may be relied on,
as they are transcribed from Apostle Woodruff's
private journal, and were originally recorded within
a few hours of their occurrence, and are amply veri-
fied by many persons then present :

President Young : — We do not want to fight
the United States, but if they drive us to it, we
shall do the best we can ; and I will tell you, as the
Lord lives, we shall come off conquerors, for we
trust in Him. * * * God has set up his king-
dom on the earth, and it will never fall. * * *
We shall do all we can to avert a collision, but if
they drive us to it, God will overthrow them. If \
they would let us alone and say to the mobs: ' Now
you may go and kill the Mormons if you can, but
we will have nothing to do with it,' that would be
all we would ask of them ; but for the Government
to array the army against us, is too despicable and
damnable a thing for any honorable nation to do ;
and God will hold them in derision who do it.
* " " The United States are sending their

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 263

armies here to simply hold us still until a mob can
come and butcher us, as has been done before.
* * * We are the supporters of the constitution
of the United States, and we love that constitution
and respect the laws of the United States ; but it is
by the corrupt administration of those laws that we
are made to suffer. If the law had been vindicated
in Missouri, it would have sent Governor Boggs to
the gallows, along with those who murdered Joseph
and Hyrum, and those other fiends who accom-
plished our expulsion from the States. * *
Most of the Government officers who have been
sent here have taken no interest m us, but, on the
contrary, have tried many times to destroy us.

Capt. Van Vliet : — This is the case with most
men sent to the Territories. They receive their
offices as a political reward, or as a stepping-stone
to the Senatorship ; but they have no interest in
common with the people. This people

has been lied about the worst of any people I ever
saw. * * * The greatest hold that the Govern-
ment now has upon you is in the accusation that
you have burned the United States records.

President Young : — I deny that any books of the
United States have been burned ! All I ask of any
man is, that he tell the truth about us, pay his debts
and not steal, and then he will be welcome to come
or go as he likes. If the Government

has arrived at that state that it will try to kill this
people because of their religion, no honorable man
should be afraid of it. We would like

to ward off this blow if we can ; but the United
States seem determined to drive us into a fight.
They will kill us if they can. A mob killed Joseph
and Hyrum in jail, notwithstanding the faith of the
State was pledged to protect them. I

have broken no law, and under the present state of
affairs I will not suffer myself to be taken by any

264 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

United States officer, to be killed as they killed
Joseph.

Capt. Van Vliet : — I do not think it is the inten-
tion of the Government to arrest you, but to install
a new Governor in the Territory.

President Yotmg : — I believe you tell the truth —
that you believe this — but you do not know their
intentions as well as I do. When you get away
from here you will think of a great many things that
you have seen and heard : for instance, people have
accused us of colleaguing with the Indians against
the Government : they were much afraid that Joseph
Smith would go among the Indians, and they wanted
to keep him away from them ; but now they have
driven us into their midst. I want you to note the
signs of the times ; you will see that God will chas-
tise this nation for trying to destroy both the Indi-
ans and the Mormons. * * * If the Gov-
ernment persists in sending an army to destroy us,
in the name of the Lord we shall conquer them. If
they dare to force the issue, I shall not hold the In-
dians by the wrist any longer, for white men to
shoot at them ; they shall go ahead and do as they
please. If the issue comes, you may tell the Gov-
ernment to stop all emigration across this continent,
for the Indians will kill all who attempt it. And if
an army succeeds in penetrating this valley, tell the
Government to see that it has forage and provisions
in store, for they will find here only a charred and
barren waste.

Captain Van Vliet : — * * * If our Govern-
ment pushes this matter to the extent of making
war upon you, I will withdraw from the army, for
I will not have a hand in shedding the blood of
American citizens.

President Young : — We shall trust in God * * *"
Congress has promptly sent investigating commit-
tees to Kansas and other places, as occasion has

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 265

required ; but upon the merest rumor it has sent
2,000 armed soldiers to destroy the people of Utah,
without investigating the subject at all.

Capt. Van Vliet : — The Government may yet
send an investigating committee to Utah, and con-
sider it good policy, before they get through.

President Young : — I believe God has sent you
here, and that good will grow out of it. I was glad
when I heard you were coming.

Capt. Van Vliet : — I am anxious to get back to
Washington as soon as I can. I have heard offi-
cially that General Harney has been recalled to
Kansas to officiate as Governor. I shall stop the
train on Hams Fork, on my own responsibility.

President Young : — If we can keep the peace for
this Winter I do think there will something turn
up that may save the shedding of blood.

Now let the reader mark the points. These con-
versations of Governor Young with Capt. Van Vliet
occurred before the news of the massacre reached
Salt Lake City. Governor Young charged this
officer to tell the Government that if this war of
extermination against the Mormons continued, all
emigration across the plains must be stopped ; inti-
mating that he had " held the wrist of the Indians n
from retaliating upon the whites, and that, if it was
to be war, he neither could nor would hold their
wrist any longer. But mark his policy : It was to
keep the invading army out dtiring the Winter,
hold off a battle between the troops and the Mor-
mons, and PREVENT THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD. This

accomplished, he believed the country would, in its
sober judgment, rebuke the unrighteous war, the
Government send on a commission, and the issue
be reached without the shedding of blood. Van

266 LIFE OF BRIGHAM, YOUNG J OR,

Vliet is so strongly moved by the aspect of the
case, and the heroic resolve of the entire Mormon
people, that he declares he will resign his commis-
sion if the Government decides to force the issue
and subject the people to the horrors of an exter-
minating war. He hastens back to stop the ap-
proach of the troops beyond a proper point, and to
report in Washington the state of affairs. The
sequel will show that he is finally instrumental in
bringing the whole matter to as satisfactory an
issue as was then possible, through a peace commis-
sion.

The reader cannot fail to perceive that any overt
act- — much less the terrible butchery at Mountain
Meadow — was farthest from B righ am Youngs policy
at that time, to say nothing of humanitarian con-
siderations. There can be but one just view of that
melancholy event, — that it was an act of retaliation
by the Indians; as it is a well-substantiated fact
that that particular company of emigrants had pur-
posely left poisoned meat at their camping places,
and had also poisoned certain springs of water,
thereby causing the death o'- several Indians. It is
also a fact that the Mormons urgently counseled
those emigrants to take the northern route to Cali-
fornia, it being less likely to be infested by hostile
Indians. But they stubbornly pursued their way by
the southern route, and met their fate at Mountain
Meadow.

But, though Governor Young was aiming for
some such consummation as that which came, he
neither allowed himself nor his people to retreat a
step from their chosen position. Indeed, in their

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. . 267

stern fidelity to their cause was their only safety
and successful outcome. The next day after the
departure of Van Vliet, the Governor issued the
following proclamation, placing the Territory under
martial law :

" Citizens of Utah : — We are invaded by a hostile
force, who are evidently assailing us to accomplish
our overthrow and destruction.

For the last twenty-five years we have trusted
official Government, from Constables and Justices to
Judges, Governors and Presidents, only to be
scorned, held in derision, insulted and betrayed.
Our houses have been plundered and then burned,
our fields laid waste, our principal men butchered
while under the pledged faith of the Government
for their safety, and our families driven from their
homes to find that shelter in the barren wilderness,
and that protection among hostile savages which
were denied them in the boasted abodes of Christi-
anity and civilization.

The constitution of our common country guaran-
tees to us all that we do now, or have ever, claimed.

If the constitutional rights which pertain to us as
American citizens were extended to Utah accord-
ing to the spirit and meaning thereof, and fairly and
impartially administered, it is all that we could ask
— all that we ever asked.

. Our opponents have availed themselves of preju-
dices existing against us because of our religious
faith, to send out a formidable host to accomplish
our destruction. We have had no privilege, no op-
portunity of defending ourselves from the false,
foul and unjust aspersions against us, before the
nation.

The Government has not condescended to cause
an. investigating committee or other persons to be
sent to enquire into and ascertain the truth, as is
customary in such cases.

268 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR.

We know those expressions to be false, but that
avails us nothing. We are condemned unheard,
and forced to an issue with an armed mercenary
mob, which has been sent against us at the instiga-
tion of anonymous letter-writers, ashamed to father
the base, slanderous falsehoods which they have
given to the public ; of corrupt officials who have
brought false accusations against us to screen them-
selves in their own infamy ; of hireling priests and
howling editors, who prostitute the truth for filthy
lucre's sake.

The issue which has been thus forced upon us
compels us to resort to the first great law of self-
preservation, and stand in our own defence, a right
guaranteed to us by the genius of the institutions
of our country, and upon which the Government is
based.

Our duty to ourselves, to our families, requires us
not tamely to be driven and slain without an at-
tempt to preserve ourselves. Our duty to our
country, our holy religion, our God, to freedom and
liberty, requires that we should not quietly stand
still and see those fetters being forged which are
calculated to enslave, and bring us in subjection to
an unlawful military despotism, such as can only
emanate, in a country of constitutional law, from
usurpation, tyranny and oppression.

Therefore, I, Brigham Young, Governor, and Su-
perintendent of Indian affairs for the Territory of
Utah, in the name of the people of the United
States in the Territory of Utah :

i st. — Forbid all armed forces of every descrip-
tion from coming into this Territory, under any
pretence whatever.

2d. — Order all the forces in said Territory to hold
themselves in readiness to march at a moment's
notice to repel any and all such invasion.

3d. — Martial law is hereby declared to exist m
this Territory, from and after the publication of this

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 269

proclamation, and no person shall be allowed to
pass or re-pass into or through or from the Terri-
tory, without a permit from the proper officers.

Given under my hand and seal at Great Salt Lake
City, Territory of Utah, this 15th day of September,
a. d. 1857, and of the independence of the United
States of America the 82d.

(Signed) Brigham Young.

i

, In December following the Utah Legislature
met. The members came together with the reso-
lute bent of men who believed in the righteousness
of their cause. On the first day of the session was
duly presented the following :

GOVERNOR YOUNGS LAST MESSAGE.

It is a matter 01 deep regret that officers of a.
government, founde'd at so great a sacrifice by our
forefathers, upon ' a land choice above all other
lands,' have become so sunken in degradation as to
have utterly lost sight of those pure and just prin-
ciples embodied in the constitution, and prefer, in
the pursuit of law, grovelling and selfish aims, to
carry out that suicidal policy, a persistence in which
can but end in rending to pieces a nation that other-
wise might become the happiest and most powerful
on the globe. Reckless office-holders and office-
seekers have their poisoned fangs so deeply buried
in the vitals of the body politic, and are so thoroughly
organized and drilled in the defence and attack of
the spoils, while the tradesmen, the mechanics, the
husbandmen and humble laborers — the real virtue
and sound intelligence of the republic — are so busily
•occupied in their daily toil, and, except here and
there a few, are so little aware of the dire portent
of the future, and of the measures necessary for in-
suring public tranquility, that it is a discouraging
task to attempt arresting the turbid current ol

27O LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

official corruption that would sweep every vestige
of truth, virtue and human rights from our happy
country ; but the crimsoned satellites of plunder,
oppression and usurpation may rest assured that
every friend of liberty will resist their destructive
progress, and stand fast by the constitution and all
laws conformable therewith.

True, all human instituted governments contain
more or less of the weakness pertaining to imper-
fection, and to this law our Government is by no
means an exception, still I am not acquainted with
any man-made form of government in which are
sown so few of the seeds of its own dissolution.
Lovers of justice as were the revolutionary patriots,
endowed as they were in their deliberations and
acts with a goodly portion of that wisdom that
cometh from above, and wielding an influence sel-
dom attained by so small a number, yet they were
unable to devise a republican form of government
without a system of checks and balances, dividing
the federative power into three distinct branches,
controlable only by the will of the sovereign people.
Their former experience makes it a matter of no
surprise that in their deliberations and acts they
leaned so strongly to the side of the largest degree
of individual freedom ; nor, having suffered so sorely
under the cruel rod of religion established by secular
power, that they so clearly and strenuously guarded
and guaranteed the widest scope to freedom of con-
science and consequent right of worship in accord-
ance therewith. But with the sound judgment and
experience possessed by those great statesmen, it is
only another evidence of the weakness incident to
humanity, even when acting under the best of
motives, that, after having so long groaned under
the bitter oppression of British colonial rule, and
successfully struggled for the establishment of the
inherent right of each and all to ' life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness/ with the positive guaran-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 2JI

tee that every one should be privileged with and
protected in the blessings flowing from a republican
form of government, whose characteristic consisted
solely in the well-defined and well-understood fact
that the rulers and the laws shall proceed only from
the election and consent of the governed, they
should, in April, 1784, pass resolutions, and, in July,
1787, over two months previous to the adoption of
the constitution, pass an ordinance specially legis-
lating for American citizens residing on public
domain, directly contrary to the very genius of the
articles of confederation by which they had mutu-
ally pledged each other they would be guided. And
that very legislation, contrary as it was to the author-
ities and limitations of the articles of confedera-
tion existing at the time of the passage of the cele-
brated ordinance of '87, and to those of the consti-
tution adopted in the same year, as well as to the
great truth embodied in the declaration of indepen-
dence, that 'governments derive their just powers
from the consent of the governed/ could be and
was endorsed by Americans, so long as the usurped
power was exercised in justice. And the portion of
that illegal legislation copied into ' organic acts ' for
Territories could be still endured, were it not so
grievously abused, as is the case when officers are
attempted to be forced upon a free people, contrary
to their known and ' expressed wishes. Still, look-
ing as our patriot fathers measurably did, to the
governmental experience of the mother country,
'and surrounded as they were by so many conflicting
views and entangling questions, it is ndt a subject
of so much surprise that they inadvertently took so
illegal a course, as it is that an early Congress under
the constitution continued to perpetuate and en-
deavor to make le^al that which neither was nor
ever could be law, without first destroying or re-
modeling the very constitution from which Con-
gress derives its sole power to act. And again, the

272 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

course of that Congress is by no means so surpris-
ing as that Congress after Congress, with a length-
ening experience in the workings of the govern-
mental machinery and a boasted increase of enlight-
enment, should still continue to fasten a portion of
that unconstitutional relic of colonial barbarism
upon American citizens, whenever a laudable spirit
of enterprise induces those citizens to lawfully
occupy and improve any portion of the public
domain. And it is most surprising of all, that
Americans occupying public domain in Territories,
have so tamely submitted to such long continued
and obvious usurpation.

Even since the more odious features in the ordi-
nance of '87 have been omitted in the organic acts
more recently passed by Congress for Territories,
which acts are but illegal patterns after that uncon-
stitutional ordinance, officers are appointed to rule
over American citizens in Territories, and to have a
voice in the enactment, adjudication and execution
of Territorial laws ; and, worse still, those officers are
frequently appointed from a class well known,
through the rightfully expressed wishes of large
majorities, to be justly objected to by those whom
they are appointed to govern. Call you that repub-
lican ? It is British colonial vassalage unconstitu-
tionally perpetuated by tyranny and usurpation in
the powers that be. It is difficult to conceive how
a people, so enlightened as are Americans, should
for so long a period have suffered themselves to be
measurably disfranchised by usurpations curtailing
their right, when passing an air line from a State
into a Territory, more especially when that chang-
ing of locality is to result in the improvement of
regions that would otherwise remain waste.

It is foreign to my present purpose to detail that
policy which should have governed from the begin-
ning in relation toenlip-htenedresidents in our Terri-
tories, a policy that would not have curtailed them

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 273.

in the least constitutional right, and would thereby
have utterly excluded that odious and suicidal in-
consistency existing from the first until now, be-
tween the form and the administration of our
government, and would have caused the adminis-
tration, as does the form, to guarantee equal free-
dom to all, in Territory as well as State, but will
merely remark, in passing, that the continued prac-
tice of that wretched inconsistency, has done, and is
doing, much to undermine the fair fabric of Ameri-
can liberty.

Utah, also, like other Territories, saw fit to waive
those constitutional rights so illegally denied to
citizens who cross certain air lines of a common .
country to extend the area of civil and religious .
liberty, and an act organizing our Territorial Gov-
ernment was passed by Congress on the 9th of
September, 1850. Fortunately for us a wise and
good man occupied the executive chair of our na-
tion, a statesman whose sound judgment and hu-
mane feelings prompted him to extend to us our
rights, so far as the ' organic act ' and hungry office-
hunters would permit. He appointed a part of the
customary appointees in accordance with the wishes
of the people, and, no doubt thought he had ap-
pointed good men to fill the remaining offices, but
in this he was partially disappointed, being deceived
by the foolish, although very common, habit of
recommending men who are not worthy. I am also
confident that his successor endeavored to make as
good appointments for us as circumstances and un-
wise counsels and recommendations would allow,
but during his administration prejudice began to set
in against Utah, and he was so unfortunate as to
appoint, at the instigation and solicitation of a then
influential Senator in Congress, a person who
proved to be as degraded as his capacity would'
admit, and who, it is reported, came, acted, left and
still acted in accordance with the instructions from

274 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

the Senator who procured his appointment, but in a
manner outraging morality, justice, humanity, law
and even common decency.

The members and officers of the last Legislative
Assembly, familiar with the evils visited upon the
innocent by the miserably bad conduct of certain
officials heretofore sent here by Government, know-
ing that all republican governments, which both,
our general and State governments are in form,,
are based upon the principle that the governed
shall enjoy the right to elect their own officers, and
be guided by the laws having their own consent,
and perfectly aware that by the constitution resi-.
dents in Territories are guaranteed that great right
equal with residents in States (for Congress has
not one particle more constitutional power to legis-
late for and officer Americans in Territories than
they have to legislate for and officer Americans in
States), respectfully memorialized the President and
Senate to appoint officers for Utah in accordance
with an accompanying list containing the names of
persons who were her first choice for the offices
placed opposite fhose names, but if that selection
did not meet with approval, they were solicited to
make appointments from a list containing other and
a larger numbrr of names of residents who were,
also the choice of the people ; and if that selection
was also rejerted, to appoint from any part of the
Union, with the simple request, in such an event,
that the appointees be good men. In this matter
of appointment of officers, what more rights could
the most tyrannical in a republican government
ask a Territory to waive ? Yet up to this date no
official information concerning the action, if any,
taken upon that memorial, has ever reached us.

Time glided by, and travelers and newspapers
began to confirm the rumor that the present Execu-
tive, and a part of the Cabinet, had yielded to the
rabid clamor raised against Utah by lying editors,

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 275

corrupt demagogues, heartless office hunters, and
the ignorant rabble, incited by a number of the
hireling clergy, and were about to send an army to
Utah, with the sole and avowed purpose, as pub-
lished in almost every newspaper, of compelling
American citizens, peacefully, loyally and lawfully
occupying American soil, to forego the dearest con-
stitutional rights, to abandon their religion, to
wallow in the mire and worship at the shrine of
modern civilization and Christianity, or be expelled
from the country, or exterminated. Where are now
constitutional rights ? Who is laying the axe at
the root of the tree of liberty ? Who are the
usurpers ? Who the tyrants ? Who the traitors ?
Most assuredly those who are madly urging meas-
ures to subvert the genius of free institutions, and
those principles of liberty upon which our Govern-
ment is based, and to overthrow virtue, independ-
ence, justice and true intelligence, the loss of either
of which, by the people, the celebrated Judge Story
has wisely affirmed would be " the ruin of our Re-
public — the destruction of its vitality." And ex-
President James Madison, among other purposes,,
declared it to be the purpose of Government " to
avoid the slightest interference with the rights of
conscience, or the functions of religion, so wisely
exempted from civil jurisdiction."

Has Utah ever violated the least principle of the
constitution, or so much as broken the most insig-
nificant constitutional enactments. No ; nor have
we the most distant occasion for so doing, but have
ever striven to peacefully enjoy and extend those
rights granted to all by a merciful creator. But so
unobtrusive and wise a course does not seem to
please those who live and wish to live by office, and
those who make and live lies ; and since those
characters are numerous, and also powerful through
well disciplined organization ; and since Utah has
yielded right after right, for the sake of peace, until

276 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

•

her policy has emboldened the enemies of our
Union, it must needs be that President Buchanan,
if he has ordered an army to Utah as reported, for
he has not officially notified me of such a move-
ment by his order, has at length succumbed, either
of choice or through being overcome, to the cruel
and nefarious counsels of those enemies, and is
endeavoring to carry out a usurpation of power,
which of right belongs only to the people, by ap-
pointing civil officers known to be justly objection-
able to freemen, and sending a so-called army,
under mere color of law, to force those officers
upon us at the point of the bayonet, and to form a
nucleus for the collection and protection of every
gambler, cut-throat,- whore-monger and scoundrel
who may choose to follow in their train. Such a
treasonable system of operations will never be en-
dured, nor even countenanced, by any person pos-
sessed of the least spark of patriotism and love of
constitutional liberty. The President knew, if he
knew the facts in the case, as he was in duty bound
to do before taking action, that the officials hitherto
sent here had been invariably received and treated
with all the respect their offices demanded, and that
a portion of them had met with far more courtesy
than elsewhere would have been extended to them,
or their conduct deserved ; he also knew, or had
the privilege of knowing, that the memorial of the
last Assembly, as already stated, respectfully in-
formed him that Utah wished ^^/ men for officers,
and that such officers would be cordially welcomed
and obeyed, and that we would not again tamely,
endure the abuse and misrule meted by official
villains, as were some who have formerly officiated
here. Such being a few of the leading facts, what
were the legitimate inferences drawn from the
rumors that the President had sent a batch of offi-
cials with an army to operate as their posse ? That
he had willfully made the official appointments for

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 277

Utah from a class other than good men, and placed
himself, where tyrants often are, in the position of
levying war upon the very nation whose choice had
made him its chief executive officer.

Fully aware, as has been justly written, that
" patriotism does not consist in aiding Government
in every base or stupid act it may perform, but
rather in paralyzing its power when it violates
vested rights, affronts insulted justice, and assumes
undelegated authority," and knowing that the so-
called army, reported to be on its way to Utah, was
an undisguised mob, if not sent by the President
of the United States; and, if sent by him, in the
manner and for the purpose alleged in all the in-
formation permitted to reach us, was no less a mob,
though in the latter event acting under color of
law ; upon learning its near approach, I issued, as
in duty bound, a proclamation expressly forbidding
all bodies of armed men, under whatsoever name,
or by whomsoever sent, to come within the bounds
of this Territory. That so-called army, or, more
strictly speaking, mob, refused to obey that procla-
mation, copies of which were officially furnished
them, and prosecuted their march to the neighbor-
hood of Forts Bridger and Supply (which were
vacated and burnt upon their approach), where it is
said they intended to winter. Under these circum-
stances, I respectfully suggest that you take such
measures as your enlightened judgment may dictate,
to insure public tranquility, and protect, preserve
and perpetuate inviolate those inalienable constitu-
tional rights which have descended to us, a rich
legacy, from our forefathers.

A civilized nation is one that never infringes upon
the rights of its citizens, but strives to protect and
make happy all within its sphere, which our Govern-
ment, above all others, is obligated to accomplish,
though its present course is far from that wise and
just path. And under the aggravated abuses that

2j8 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

have been heaped upon us in the past, you and the
whole people are my witnesses that it has more
particularly fallen to my lot and been my policy and
practice to restrain rather than urge resistance to
usurpation and tyranny, on the part of the enemies
to the constitution and constitutional laws (who are
also our enemies and the enemies of all republics
and republicans), until forbearance under such cruel
and illegal treatment cannot well be longer exer-
cised. No one has denied or wishes to deny the
right of the Government to send its troops when,
where and as it pleases, so it is done clearly within
the authorities and limitations of the constitution,
and for the safety and welfare of the people ; but
when it sends them clearly without the pale of those
authorities and limitations, unconditionally to op-
press the people, as is the case in the so-called army
sent to Utah, it commits a treason against itself
which commands the resistance of all good men, or
freedom will depart from our nation.

In compliance with a long-established custom in
appointing officers not of the people's electing,
which the Supreme Court of the United States
would at once in justice decide to be unconstitu-
tional, we have petitioned and petitioned that good
men be appointed, until that hope is exhaused ; and
we have long enough borne the insults and outrages
of lawless officials, until we are compelled, in self-
defence, to assert and maintain that great consti-
tutional right of the governed to officers of their
own election, and local laws of their own enactment.
That the President and the counselors, aiders and
abettors of the present treasonable crusade against
the peace and rights of a Territory of the United
States, may re-consider their course and retrace
their steps is earnestly to be desired ; but in either
event, our trust and confidence are in that being
who at his pleasure rules among the armies of
heaven and controls the wrath of the children of

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 279

men, and most cheerfully should we be able to abide
the issue.

Permit me to tender you my entire confidence
that your deliberations will be distinguished by that
wisdom, unanimity and love of justice that have
ever marked the counsels of our legislative assem-
blies, and the assurance of my hearty co-operation
in every measure you adopt for promoting the true
interests of a Territory beloved by us for its very
isolation and forbidding aspect ; for here, if any-
where upon this footstool of our God, have we the
privilege and prospect of being able to secure and
enjoy those inestimable rights of civil and religious
liberty, which the beneficent creator of all mankind
has, in his mercy, made indefeasible, and perpetuate
them upon a broader and firmer basis for the benefit
of ourselves, of our children and our children's chil-
dren, until peace shall be restored to our distracted
country."

In the course of their session the Territorial
Legislature passed a series of resolutions, which
were embodied in a memorial to the President of
the United States.

The memorial set forth, in brief, their various
grievances consequent upon the persecutions waged
against them by the people of the various States in
which they had lived, and the annoyances they had
endured under the maladministration of corrupt
Federal officials, especially Judge W. W. Drum-
mond, who was the immediate cause of the political
agitation on Utah affairs. The memorial closed
thus :

Whereas, in our well-founded opinion, there are
citizens of our Territory who are capable and honest,

280 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

whose interest is identified with the people, who
desire the promotion of peace and the prosperity of
the Territory and the Union ; and

Whereas, we have furnished our worthy delegate
in Congress, the Hon. John M. Bernhisel, a list of
names of certain citizens of this Territory, with in-
structions to him to respectfully request the Presi-
dent of the United States to make the appointments
for this Territory therefrom, or to select other citi-
zens of this republic whose interests are and will be
here, and somewhat identified with the growth and
prosperity of the country : therefore be it by the
Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Terri-
tory of Utah, in solemn assembly convened, and
having the foregoing facts and suggestions under
consideration,

•Resolved, that, while we respect the General Gov-
ernment, and are at all times willing to observe the
laws thereof, so far as they may be applicable to
our condition, in our Territorial capacity, we will
resist any attempts of Government officials to set
at naught our Territorial laws, or to impose upon
us those which are inapplicable, and of right not in
force in this Territory.

Resolved, that, while we will seek. to carry out the
rules and regulations of the various departments of
the General Government, as we invariably have, we
will resist any attempt of any of its officers to bring
us into difficulty, by misrepresentation or otherwise,
with either of said departments of the Government.

Resolved,' that we will maintain the constitution
and laws of the -United States, so far as they are
applicable to our Territory, but we will not tamely
submit to being abused by the Government officials
here in this Territory ; they shall not come here to
corrupt our community, set at defiance our laws,
trample upon the rights of the people, stir up the
Indians and use the patronage of the Government
against us, as a people, by their false statements

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 28 1

and misrepresentations ; or, if they do come and act
in this manner, as has been done, we will send them
away, asking no odds either of political demagogues
or bigots • for we well understand and know that
neither the one nor the other is justified by the
constitution and laws in thus trifling with the liber-
ties of the people or trampling upon their rights.

Resolved, that we are a portion of the great
American Republic ; that we have rights civil,
political, and religious, in common with the rest of
the States and Territories ; that those rights are as
sacred to us as they are to any other people, and
that it is the duty of the Government to protect us
in the peaceful enjoyment thereof, so far as it is in
their power, and not to seek to annoy and distress
us either with foreign appointments or by fastening
upon our necks the yoke of tyranny and oppression,
thus depriving us of those rights of freedom per-
taining to every republican government, and held
sacred by every State and Territory.

Resolved, that we inherit from our fathers who
declared that governments " derive their just powers
from the consent of the governed," the right to have
a voice in the selection of our rulers, and that to
deny that right is anti-republican and fraught with
evil, not only to us who are unwisely and unjustly
held in a Territorial capacity, but to every lover of
American freedom.

Resolved, that we desire to live in peace, and have
ever done so, when let alone by our enemies ; that
we have sacrificed much to get out of their way, and
that, if they follow us up, as in times past, to seek
our destruction, we are ready and willing to sacrifice
far more, rather than not be rid of them. They
shall not live in our midst to plot treason against
the Territory, and to bring against us the forces of
the United States to our destruction.

Resolved, that we eschew as evil, and utterly repu-
diate, all social intercourse with those officials who

282 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ) OR,

practice, under the garb of their official dignity,
every species of iniquity.; also with the murdering
thieves and vagabonds with whom such officials
associate ; and they must and shall leave this Terri-
tory, so soon as they manifest themselves to be of
•the character set forth in this memorial.

Resolved, that we respectfully solicit the President
of the United States to make the appointments to
the offices of this Territory from among the citizens
thereof, or else select other good citizens of this
great republic, who will endeavor to promote the
interests of the Territory and become identified
therewith.

-, \

CHAPTER XVIII.

BUCHANAN COERCED BY PUBLIC SENTIMENT INTO
SENDING A COMMISSION OF INVESTIGATION. HE
SENDS COLONEL KANE WITH A SPECIAL MISSION
TO THE MORMONS. ^ARRIVAL OF THE COLONEL IN
SALT LAKE CITY. HIS FIRST INTERVIEW WITH
THE MORMON LEADERS. INCIDENTS OF HIS SO-
JOURN. HE GOES TO MEET GOVERNOR CUMMING,
AND IS PLACED UNDER ARREST BY GENERAL
JOHNSTON. HIS CHALLENGE TO THAT OFFICER.
HE BRINGS IN THE NEW GOVERNOR IN TRIUMPH.
CORDIAL MEETING BETWEEN THE TWO GOVERNORS.
RETURN OF COLONEL KANE.

The reaction came. The leading papers, both of
America and England, declared that President Bu-
chanan had committed a great and palpable blunder.
He had sent an army, before a committee of investi-
gation,' and had made war upon one of our Terri-
tories for rejecting (!) a new Governor before that
Governor had been sent. Brigham Young had
clearly a constitutional advantage over the Presi-
dent of the United States — for in those days the
rights of the citizen, and the rights of a State or
Territory, had some meaning in the national mind.
The idea of " Buchanan's blunder " once started, it
soon became universal in the public mind. The Mor-

284 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

mons were not in rebellion, as they themselves stoutly
maintained. They were ready to receive the new
Governor with becoming loyalty, but not willing to
have him forced upon them by bayonets. There
was nothing more to be said in the case, excepting
that, by the common law of nature, a man may
hold off the hand at his throat to say in good
old scriptural language, " Come, let us reason to-
gether."

All America, and all Europe, " saw the point,"
and a storm of condemnation and ridicule fell upon
the devoted head of the President. Peace commis-
sioners alone could help him out of the trouble.

At this critical juncture Col. Kane sought the
man at the White House, and offered his services
as mediator. Buchanan wisely recognized his po-
tency and fitness, and without a moments loss of
time the Colonel set out on his self-imposed mis-
sion, although in such feeble health that any con-
sideration short of the noble impulse that actuated
him at the time would have deterred him from
making the attempt. The undertaking was as
delicate as it was important. Its success alone
could make it acceptable, either to the Mormons or
to the nation.

For prudential reasons he registered himself as
" Dr. Osborne " among the passengers on board the
California steamer, which left New York in the first
week of January, 1858. On reaching the Pacific
coast, he hastened, overland, to Southern California
there overtaking the Mormons who had just broken
up their colony at San Bernardino, re-gathering to
Utah for the common defence. An escort was im-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 285

mediately furnished him, and he reached Salt Lake
City in the following February.

Governor Young- called a council of the Presi-
dency and Twelve, at his house, on the evening of
the day of Col. Kane's arrival, and at eight o'clock
the " messenger from Washington " was introduced
by Joseph A. Young, as " Dr. Osborne."

The introduction was very formal. The Colonel
had a peculiar mission to fulfill, and was evidently
desirous to maintain tbe dignity of the Government.
Moreover, it was more than eleven years since he
had met his friends of winter quarters. They had,
with their people, become as a little nation, and the
United States was making war upon them as an in-
dependent power. Notwithstanding that his great
love for them had prompted him to undertake the
long journey which he had just accomplished, at
first he must have felt the uncertainty of his mis-
sion, and some misgivings as to the regard in which
they would hold his mediation. But perhaps no
other man in the nation at that critical moment
would have been received by the Mormon leaders
with such perfect confidence.

The Colonel was very pale, being worn down
with travel by day and night. An easy chair was
placed for him. A profound silence of some mo-
ments reigned. The council waited to hear the
mind of the Government, for the coming of Col.
Kane had put a 'new aspect on affairs, though what
it was to be remained to be shaped from that night.
With great difficulty in speaking he addressed the
council as follows :
■ 3 " Governor Young a?id Gentlemen : — I come as

286 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG | OR,

" an- ambassador from the chief executive of our
11 nation, and am prepared and duly authorized to
" lay before you, most fully and definitely, the feel-
11 ings and views of the citizens of our common
" country, and of the Executive towards you, relative
11 to the present position of this Territory, and rela-

I tive to the army of the United. States now upon
" your borders.

" After giving you the most satisfactory evidence

II in relation to matters concerning you, now pend-
11 ing, I shall then call your attention, and wish to
" enlist your sympathies, in behalf of the poor soldiers
" who are now suffering in the cold and snow of the
"mountains. I shall request you to render them
11 aid and comfort, and to assist them to come here,
11 and to bid them a hearty'welcome into your hos-
" pitable valley.

" Governor Young, may I be permitted to ask a
" private interview for a few moments with you ?
" Gentlemen, excuse my formality."

They were gone about thirty minutes,, when they
returned again to the room.

Colonel Kane then informed the council that
Captain Van Vliet had made a good report of them
at Washington, and had used his influence to have
the army stop east of Bridger. He had done a great
deal in their behalf.

" You all look very well," said the Colonel, " you
" have built up quite an; empire here in a short
11 time."

He spoke upon the prosperity of the people, in-
stancing some of its phases ; and then the enquiry
came from some one present : " Did Dr. Bernhisel

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 287,

" take his seat?" Nonews whatever of the Utah
delegate had yet reached them.

" Yes," he answered, " Delegate Bernhisel took
" his seat. He was opposed by the Arkansas mem-
- ber and. a few others, but they were treated as
" fools by more sagacious members; for, if the dele-
" gate had been refused his seat, it would have: been
11 tantamount to a declaration of war."

Speaking of the conduct of the Mormons, he
said :

" You have borne your part manfully in this corfc-
" test. I was pleased to see how patiently your
11 people took it."

"How was the Presidents, message received?"
asked Governor Young.

" The message was received' as usual. In his
" appointments he had been cruelly impartial. So
" far he has made an, excellent President. He has
"an able cabinet. They are more, united, and work
" together better than some of our former cabinets
" have done."

" I suppose," observed. Governor Young, caustic-
ally, " they are united in putting down Utah ?"
1 , " I think not," replied the Colonel.

Then came conversations on the affairs of the
nation — of Spain, Kansas, the Black Warrior affair,,
financial pressure, &c.

By this time all restraint between the brethren
and their noble friend was gone.

" I wish you knew how much I feel at home," he 1
observed. " I hope I shall have the privilege of
" breaking bread with these, my friends."

" I want to take good care of you," returned. Gov-

288 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

ernor Young warmly. " I want to tell you one
" thing, and that is, the men you see here do not
" look old. The reason is they are doing right, and
" are in the service of God. If men would do right
" they would live to a great age. There are but few
" in the world who have the amount of labor to do
" which I have. I have to meet men every hour in
" the day. It is said of me that I do more busi-
" ness in an hour than any President, King or
" Emperor has to perform in a day ; and that I think
" for the people constantly. You can endure more
" now. than you could ten years ago. If you had
" done as some men have done you would have
" been in your grave before now."

The Colonel replied, " I fear that I can endure
" more than I could ten years ago. The present
" life doesn't pay, and I feel like going away as soon •
lt as it is the will of God to take me."

" I know, to take this life as it is, and as men
" make it," answered President Young, " it does not
" appear worth living, but I can tell you that, when
11 you see things as they are, you will find life is
11 worth preserving, and blessings will follow our
" living in this life, if we do right.

"Now," continued the President, warming with
his subject, " if God should say I will let you live
" in this world without any pain or sorrow, we»
11 might feel life was worth living for. But this is not >
" in his economy. We have to partake of sorrow,
" affliction and death ; and if we pass through this
" affliction patiently, and do right, we shall have a
" greater reward in the world to come. I have been
" robbed several times of my all in this life, and my

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 289

41 property has gone into the hands of my enemies ;
" but as to property, I care no more about it than
" about the dirt in the streets, only to use it as God
" wishes. But I think a great deal of a friend — a
" true friend. An honest man it truly the noblest
" work of God. It is not in the power of the
" United States to destroy this people, for they are
" in the hands of God. If we do right, He will pre- >
" serve us. The Lord does many things which we
" would count as small things. For instance, a poor
11 man once came into my office ; I felt by the spirit
" that he needed assistance ; I took five dollars out
" of my pocket and gave to him. I soon after ^
" found a five-dollar gold piece in my pocket, which
" I did not put there. Soon I found another. Many
" think that the Lord has nothing to do with gold ;
" but he has charge of that as well as every other -*
" element. Brother Kimball said in Nauvoo, ' if *
" ' we have to leave our houses we will go to the
" ' mountains, and in a few years we will have a >
" ' better city than we have here.' This is fulfilled.
" He also said, ' We shall have gold, and coin >
" ■ twenty-dollar gold pieces.' We came here, ^
" founded a city, and coined the first twenty -do I lair •
11 gold pieces in the United States. Seeing the
" brethren poorly clad, soon after we came here, he j
" said, ' It will not be three years before we can i
" ' buy clothing cheaper in Salt Lake Valley than in
" ' the States.' Before the time was out, the gold- ->
il diggers brought loads of clothing, and sold them
11 in our city at a wanton price.

11 Friend Thomas," concluded Governor Young, ■>
" the Lord sent you here, and he will not let you «

29O LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

11 die — no, you cannot die till your work is done.
11 I want to have your name live to all eternity. You
11 have done a great work, and you will do a greater
" work still."

The council then broke up, and the brethren went
to their homes.

The straight-forward, noble simplicity of what
was thus done and said between Thomas . L. Kane
and Brigham Young, in the presence of the apostles,
cannot but strike the attention of the intelligent
investigator.

After the council had ended, word was sent- to
Elder Wm. C. Staines that a Dr. Osborne, traveling
with the company from California, was sick, and
desired accommodation at his house ; and late in
the evening " Dr. Osborne " was duly introduced
to, and cordially welcomed by, Elder Staines. The
elder had no idea that his guest was other than the
person represented, for when Col. Kane was at
winter quarters, he (Staines) was among the In-
dians, with Bishop Miller's camp.

However, in a few days Elder Staines learned
who his guest was, and, as a favorable opportunity
presented itself, said to him :

11 Col. Kane, why did you wish to be introduced
" to me as Dr. Osborne ? "

" My dear friend," replied the Colonel, " I was
" once treated so kindly at winter quarters that I
" am sensitive over its memories. I knew you to
" be a good people then ; but since, I have heard so
11 many hard things about you, that I thought I
" would like to convince myself whether or not the
11 people possessed the same humane and hospitable

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 29 1

" spirit which I found in them once. I thought — if
'■ I go to the house of any of my great friends
11 of winter quarters, they will treat me as Thomas
11 L. Kane, with a remembrance of some services
" which I may have rendered them. So I requested
" to be sent to some strangers house, as ' Dr. Os-
" borne/ that I might, know how the Mormon people
" would treat a stranger at such a moment as this,
11 without knowing whether I might not turn out to
" be either an enemy or a spy. And now, Mr.
" Staines, I want to know if you could have treated
" Thomas L. Kane better than you have treated
" Dr. Osborne."

" No, Colonel," replied Elder Staines, " I could
" not."

" And thus, my friend," added ' Dr. Osborne,' " I
"have proved that the Mormons will treat the
"stranger in Salt Lake City, as they once did
" Thomas L. Kane at winter quarters."

In a few days, under the inspiring spirit and
affectionate nursing of his host, Colonel Kane was
sufficiently recovered to carry out his design of pro-
ceeding to the head-quarters of the army (Fort
Bridger, then called Camp Scott).

Governor Young's policy had changed in nought,,
excepting in that which was consistent with the im-
proved situation. The Mormons would receive
their new Governor loyally, but would not have him
accompanied by an army into their capital ; neither
would they allow an army to be quartered in any of
their cities. The agent of the administration could
ask no more nor desire more. It was the basis of a
fair compromise, which would give to President

292 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

Buchanan a plausible out-come, and at the same
time maintain the Mormon dignity.

The visit of Col. Kane to Camp Scott was at-
tended with a chain of circumstances that give to
the narration of it a decidedly dramatic cast. At
the worst season of the year, in delicate health, he
made his way through the almost impassable snows
of the mountains, a distance of 113 miles. Arrived,
on the 10th of March, in the vicinity of the army
outposts, he insisted, out of consideration for the
safety of his friendly escort, on entering the lines
unaccompanied. Reaching the nearest picket post,
an over-zealous sentry challenged him, and at the
same time fired at him. In return, the Colonel
broke the stock of his rifle over the sentry's head.
The post being now fully arroused and greatly ex-
cited, Col. Kane, with characteristic politeness as
well as diplomacy, requested to be conducted to
the tent of Gov. Gumming. The Governor re-
ceived him cordially.

The Colonels diplomacy in seeking the Gover-
nor, instead of General Johnston, is evident. His
business was not directly with the commander, but
with the civil chief, whose posse commitatus the
troops were. The compromise which Buchanan
had to effect, with the utmost delicacy, could only
be through the new Governor, and that, too, by his
heading off the army sent to occupy Utah.

The General was chagrined. Here was Buchanan
withdrawing from a serious blunder as gracefully
as possible ; but where was Albert Sidney Johnston
to achieve either glory or honor out of the Utah
war ?

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 293,

Affecting to treat Col. Kane as a spy, an orderly
was sent to arrest him. It was afterwards converted
into a blundering execution of the General's invita-
tion to him to dine at head-quarters. The blunder
was no doubt an intentional one. Col. Kane re-
plied by sending a formal challenge to General
Johnston.

Governor dimming could do nothing less than
espouse the cause of the " ambassador," who was
there in the execution of a mission entrusted to him
by the President of the United States. The affair
of honor also touched himself. He resented it
with great spirit, extended his official protection to>
his guest, and from that moment there was an im-
passable breach between the executive and the mili-
tary chief. The duel, however, was prevented by
the interference of Chief Justice Eckels, who*
threatened to arrest all concerned in it if it pro-
ceeded further.

The conduct of General Johnston was looked
upon by the Mormon leader as very like a bit of
providential diplomacy interposed in behalf of his
people. With the Governor and the commander of
the army at swords' points, the issues of the " war "
were practically in the hands of Brigham Young.
From that moment he knew that he was master of
the situation ; and the extraordinary moves that he-
made thereupon, culminating with the second exo-
dus, show what a consummate strategist he is, and
how complex are his methods of mastering men.
He was now not only in command of his own
people, who at the lifting of his finger would move
with him to the ends of the earth, but substantially

294 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

dictator both to the Governor and the army. John-
ston could only move at the call of the Governor,
and was hedged about by the new policy of the
President, while this shaping of affairs converted
the Mormon militia, then under arms, into the
Governor's posse commitatus, instead of the regular
troops.

The mission of Col. Kane to the seat of war was
to induce the Governor to trust himself through
the Mormon lines, under a Mormon escort of honor
that would be furnished at the proper point, and to
enter immediately upon his gubernatorial duties.
The officers remonstrated with the Governor
against going to the city without the army, pre-
dicting that the Mormons would poison him, or
put him out of the way by some other wicked in-
genuity ; but the camp was now no longer the place
for him, and with a high temper , and a humane
spirit, he trusted himself to the guidance of Col.
Kane.

The Governor left Camp Scott on the 5th of
March, en route for Salt Lake City, accompanied
by Col. Kane and two servants. As soon as he had
passed the Federal lines, he was met by an escort
of the Utah militia, and welcomed as Governor of
the Territory with military honors.

On the 1 2th of April they entered Salt Lake
City in good health and spirits, escorted by the
Mayor, marshal and aldermen, and many other dis-
tinguished citizens.

Arrived at the residence of Elder Staines, Gov-
ernor Young promptly and frankly called upon
his successor at the earliest possible moment ;

. UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 295

and they were introduced to each other by Col.
Kane.

" Governor dimming, I am glad to meet you ! "
observed Brigham, with unostentatious dignity, and
that quiet heartiness peculiar to him.

" Governor Young, I am happy to meet you, sir !"
responded His Excellency warmly, at once im-
pressed by the presence and spirit of the remark-
able man before him.

" Well, Governor," said Elder Staines, after the
interview was ended, " what do you think of Presi-
" dent Young ? Does he appear to you a tyrant, as
" represented ? "

11 No, sir. No tyrant ever had a head on his
" shoulders like Mr. Young. He is naturally a very
" good man. I doubt whether many of your people
" appreciate him as a leader."

The brethren were apprised of the fact that the
officers at Camp Scott had warned the Governor
that the Mormons would poison him, so it was con-
trived that Elder Staines and Howard Egan should
eat at the same table with him and partake of the
same food. Of course he understood the delicate
assurance that " death was not in the pot."

Three days after his entrance into the city, Gov-
ernor Cumming officially notified General Johnston
that he had been properly recognized by the
people ; that he was in full discharge of his office,
and that he did not require the presence of troops.

On his part, ex-Governor Young set the public
example, and on the Sunday following introduced
him to a large assembly as the Governor of Utah.

Thus successfully ended the mission of Col.

296 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

Kane, who shortly thereafter returned to Washing-
ton, to report in person to the President. Journeying
by the overland route, a body-guard of Mormon
scouts accompanied him to the Missouri River. It
is no more than simple justice to here testify of
him, that a more gentle and noble man is rarely to
be found, and for his disinterested kindness toward
the Mormon people they will ever hold his name in
honorable and affectionate remembrance.

CHAPTER XIX.

REPORT OF GOVERNOR CUMMING TO THE GOVERN-
1 MENT. THE GOVERNMENT RECORDS FOUND NOT
BURNED AS REPORTED BY DRUMMOND. THE

MORMON LEADERS JUSTIFIED BY THE FACTS, AND
THE PEOPLE LOYAL. GRAPHIC AND THRILLING

DESCRIPTION OF THE MORMONS IN THEIR SECOND
EXODUS. THE GOVERNOR BRINGS HIS FAMILY TO
SALT LAKE CITY. HIS WIFE IS MOVED TO TEARS
AT WITNESSING THE HEROIC ATTITUDE OF THE
PEOPLE.

Governor Cumming immediately reported the
condition of affairs in Utah, and the re-action that
it produced in the public mind, both in America
and Europe, can well be imagined. It was a new
revelation, to the age, of Mormon character and
Mormon sincerity. The peculiar people were never
understood till then, notwithstanding their previous
exodus, for only Missouri and Illinois seemed con-
cerned in their early history and doings ; but now
that the United States Government was a party in
the action, all the world became interested in the
extraordinary spectacle of a peculiar little uncon-
querable people braving the wrath of a mighty
nation.

The current events of those days, including the

298 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

" second exodus," which was begun in anticipation
of a breach of faith, on the part of the United States
authorities, in this instance, as in the previous case
of the State authorities at Nauvoo, are well re-
counted in the following report of Governor Cum-
ming, addressed to General Cass, then Secretary of
State :

Executive Office, Salt Lake City, U. T.,

May 2d, 1858.

Sir : You are aware that my contemplated journey
was postponed in consequence of the snow upon
the mountains, and in the canyons between Fort
Bridger and this city. In accordance with the deter-
mination communicated in former notes, I left camp
on the 5th, and arrived here on the 12th ult.

Some of the incidents of my journey are related
in the annexed note, addressed by me to General
A. S. Johnston, on the 15th ult.:

Executive Office, Salt Lake City, U. T.,

April 15th, 1858.

Sir : I left camp on the 5th, en route to this city,
in accordance with a determination communicated
to you on the 3d inst, accompanied by Colonel
Kane as my guide, and two servants. Arriving in
the vicinity of the spring, which is on this side of
the " Quaking Asp " hill, after night, Indian camp
fires were discerned on the rocks overhanging the
valley. We proceeded to the spring, and after dis-
posing of the animals, retired from the trail beyond
the mountain. We had reason to congratulate our-
selves upon having taken this precaution, as we
subsequently ascertained that the country lying be-
tween your outposts and the " Yellow Creek " is
infested by hostile renegades and outlaws from
various tribes.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 299

I was escorted from Bear River Valley to the
western end of Echo Canyon. The journey through
the canyon being performed, for the most part, after
niofht, it was about 1 1 o'clock p. m. when I arrived
at Weber Station. I have been everywhere recog-
nized as Governor of Utah ; and, so far from having
encountered insults or indignities, I am gratified in
being able to state to you that, in passing through
the settlements, I have been universally greeted with
such respectful attentions as are due to the repre-
sentative of the executive authority of the United
States in the Territory.

Near the Warm Springs, at the line dividing
Great Salt Lake and Davis Counties, I was honored
with a formal and respectful reception by many
gentlemen, including the mayor and other, municipal
officers of the city, and by them escorted to lodgings
previously provided, the mayor occupying a seat in
my carriage.

Ex-Governor Brigham Young paid me a call of
ceremony as soon as I was sufficiently relieved from
the fatigue of my mountain journey to receive com-
pany. In subsequent interviews with the ex-Gov-
ernor, he has evinced a willingness to afford me
every facility I may require for the efficient perform-
ance of my administrative duties. His course in
this respect meets, I fancy, with the approval of a
majority of this community. The Territorial seal,
with other public property, has been tendered me
by William H. Hooper, Esq., late Secretary pro tern.

I have not yet examined the subject critically,
but apprehend that the records of the United States
Courts, Territorial Library, and other public prop-
erty remain unimpaired.

Having entered upon the performance of my
official duties in this city, it is probable that I will
be detained for some days in this part of the
Territory.

I respectfully call your attention to a matter

30D LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

which demands our serious consideration. Many
acts of depredation have been recently committed
by the Indians upon the property of the inhabitants
- — one in the immediate vicinity of this city. Believ-
ing that the Indians will endeavor to sell the stolen
property at or near your camp, I herewith inclose
the Brand Book (incomplete) and memoranda (in
part) of stock lost by citizens of Utah since Feb.
25th, 1858, which may enable you to secure the
property and punish the thieves.

With feelings of profound regret I have learned
that Agent Hart is charged with having incited to
acts of hostility the Indians in Uinta Valley. I hope
that Aeent Hart will be able to vindicate himself
from the charges contained in the inclosed letter
from Wm. H. Hooper, late Secretary pro tern, yet
they demand a thorough investigation.

I shall probablyvbe compelled to make a requisi-
tion upon you for a sufficient force to chastise the
Indians alluded to, since I desire to avoid being
compelled to call out the militia for that purpose.

The gentlemen who are intrusted with this note,
Mr. John B. Kimball and Mr. Fay Worthen, are
engaged in mercantile pursuits here, and are repre-
sented to be gentlemen of the highest respectability,
and have no connection with the Church here.
Should you deem it advisable or necessary, you will
please send any communication intended for me by
them. I beg leave to commend them to your con-
fidence and courtesy. They will probably return to
the city in a few days. They are well-known to
Messrs. Gilbert, Perry and Burr, with whom you
will please communicate.

Very respectfully your obedient servant,

A. CUMMING,

Gov. Utah Ter,

To A. S. Johnston, commanding Army of Utah,
Camp Scott, U. T.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 30I

The note omits to state that I met parties of
armed men at Lost Creek and Yellow Creek, as
well as at Echo Canyon. At every point, however,
I was recognized as the Governor of Utah, and re-
ceived with a military salute. When it was arranged
with the Mormon officers in command of my escort
that I should pass through Echo Canyon at night,
1 inferred that it was with the object of concealing
the barricades and other defences. I was, therefore,
agreeably surprised by an illumination in honor of
me. The bonfires kindled by the soldiers from the
base to the summits of the walls of the canyon,
completely illuminated the valley, and disclosed
the snow-colored mountains which surrounded us.
When I arrived at the next station, I found the
"Emigrant Road" over the "Big Mountain" still
impassable. I was able to make my way, however,
down " Weber Canyon." Since my arrival, I have
been employed in examining the records of the
Supreme and District Courts, which I am now pre-
pared to report as being perfect and unimpaired.
This will doubtless be acceptable information to
those who have entertained an impression to the
contrary.

I have also examined the Legislative Records,
and other books belonging to the Secretary of State,
which are in perfect preservation. The property
return, though not made up in proper form, ex-
hibits the public property for which W. H. Hooper,
late Secretary of State pro tern, is responsible. It is,
in part, the same for which the estate of A. W. Bab-
bitt is liable, that individual having died whilst in
the office of Secretary of State for Utah.

I believe that the books and charts, stationery
and other property appertaining to the Surveyor-
General's office, will, upon examination, be found in
the proper place, except some instruments, which
are supposed to have been disposed of by a man

302 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

temporarily in charge of the office. I examined the
property, but cannot verify the matter in conse-
quence of not having at my command a schedule or
property return.

The condition of the large and valuable Territo-
rial library has also commanded my attention, and I
am pleased in being able to report that Mr. W. C.
Staines, the librarian, has kept the books and
records in the most excellent condition. I will, at
an early day, transmit a catalogue of this library,
and a schedule of the other public property, with
certified copies of the records of the Supreme and
District Courts, exhibiting the character and
amount of the public business last transacted in
them.

On the 2 ist inst. I left Salt Lake City, and visited
Tooele and. Rush Valleys, in the latter of which
lies the military reserve selected by Col. Steptoe,
and endeavored to trace the lines upon the ground,
from field-notes which are in the Surveyor-General's
office. An accurate plan of the reserve, as it has
been measured off, will be found accompanying a
communication, which I shall address to the Secre-
tary of War, upon the subject.

On the morning of the 26th inst, information
was communicated to me that a number of persons
who were desirous of leaving the Territory were
unable to do so, and considered themselves to be
unlawfully restrained of their liberties. However
desirous of conciliating public opinion, I felt it in-
cumbent upon me to adopt the most energetic
measures to ascertain the truth or falsehood of this
statement. Postponing, therefore, a journey of im-
portance which I had in contemplation to one of
the settlements of Utah County, I caused public
notice to be given immediately of my readiness to
relieve all persons who were, or deemed themselves
to be, aggrieved, and on the ensuing day, which was

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 303

Sunday, requested a notice to the same effect
to be read, in my presence, to the people in the
tabernacle.

I have since kept my office open at all hours of
the day and night, and have registered no less than
56 men, $& women and 71 children, as desirous of
my protection and assistance in proceeding to the
States. The large majority of these people are of
English birth, and state that they leave the congre-
gation from a desire to improve their circumstances,
and realize elsewhere more money for their labor.
Certain leading men among the Mormons have
promised them flour, and to assist them in leaving
the country.

My presence at the meeting in the tabernacle will
be remembered by me as an occasion of interest.
Between three and four thousand persons were as-
sembled for the purpose of public worship ; the hall
was crowded to overflowing ; but the most pro-
found quiet was observed when I appeared. Presi-
dent Brigham Young introduced me by name as
the Governor of Utah, and I addressed the audi-
ence from " the stand." I informed them that I had
come among them to vindicate the national sover-
eignty ; that it was my duty to secure the suprem-
acy of the constitution and the laws ; that I had
taken my oath of office to exact an unconditional
submission on their part to the dictates of the law.
I was not interrupted. In a discourse of about
thirty minutes' duration, I touched (as I thought
best) boldly upon all the leading questions at issue
between them and the General Government. I re-
membered that I had to deal with men embittered
by the remembrance and recital of many real and
imaginary wrongs, but did not think it wise to with-
hold from them the entire truth. They listened
respectfully to all I had to say — approvingly, even,
I fancied — when I explained to them what I in-
tended should be the character of my administra-

304 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

tion. In fact the whole character of the people
was calm, betokening no consciousness of having
done wrong, but rather, as it were, indicating a con-
viction that they had done their duty to their
religion and to their country. I have observed that
the Mormons profess to view the constitution as
the work of inspired men, and respond with readi-
ness to appeals for its support.

I informed them that they were entitled to a trial
by their peers ; that I had no intention of station-
ing the army in immediate contact with their settle-
ments, and that the military posse would not be re-
sorted to until other means of arrest had been
tried and failed. * * * The President and the
American people will learn with gratification the
auspicious issue of our difficulties here. I regret
the necessity, however, which compels me to mingle
with my congratulations, the announcement of a fact
that will occasion great concern.

The people, including the inhabitants of this city,
are moving from every settlement in the northern
part of the Territory. The roads are everywhere
filled with wagons loaded with provisions and
household furniture, the women and children often
without shoes or hats, driving their flocks they
know not where. They seem not only resigned but
cheerful. " It is the will of the Lord," and they re-
joice to exchange the comforts of home for the
trials of the wilderness. Their ultimate destination
is not, I presume, definitely fixed upon. " Going
South," seems sufficiently definite for the most of
them, but many believe that their ultimate destina-
tion is Sonora.

Young, Kimball and most of the influential men
have left their commodious mansions, without appa-
rent regret, to lengthen the long train of wanderers.
The masses everywhere announce to me that the
torch will be applied to every house indiscriminately
throughout the country, so soon as the troops

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 305

attempt to cross the mountains. I shall follow these
people and try to rally them.

Our military force could overwhelm most of these
poor people, involving men, women and children in
a common fate ; but there are among the Mormons
many brave men, accustomed to. arms and horses ;
men who could fight desperately as guerrillas ; and
if the settlements are destroyed, will subject the
country to an expensive and protracted war, without
any compensating results. They will, I am sure,
submit to " trial by their peers," but they will not
brook the idea of trials by "juries' 1 composed of,
" teamsters and followers of the camp," nor of an
army encamped in their cities or dense settlements.

I have adopted means to recall the few Mormons
remaining in arms, who have not yet, it is said, com-
plied with' my request to withdraw from the canyons
and eastern frontiers. I have also taken measures
to protect the buildings which have been vacated in (
the northern settlements. I am sanguine that I
will save a great part of the valuable improvements
there.

I shall leave this city for the South to-morrow.
After I have finished my business there, I shall
return as soon as possible to the army, to complete
the arrangements which will enable me before lonor,
I trust, to announce that the road between California
and Missouri may be traveled with perfect security
by trains and emigrants of every description.

I shall restrain all operations of the military for
the present, which will probably enable me to re-*
ceive from the President additional instructions, if,
he deems it necessary to give them.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. Cummings,

Governor of Utah.

To Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, Washington,
D. C.

306 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

On the 13th of May, Gov. Cumming started for
Camp Scott, for the purpose of moving his family
to Salt Lake City. Meanwhile the " exodus." had
been quietly going forward, and when the Governor
returned he found only a few men who had been
left in the city to burn it in case the army attempted
to quarter there.

The Governor and. his wife proceeded to the
residence of Elder Staines, whom they found in
waiting with a plentiful cold lunch. His family had
gone south, and in his garden were significantly
heaped several loads of straw.

The Governor's wife enquired their meaning, and
the cause of the silence that pervaded, the city.
Elder Staines informed her of their resolve to
burn the town in case the army atempted to
occupy it.

" How terrible ! " she exclaimed. " What a sight
11 this is ! I never shall forget it ! It has the ap-
" pearance of a city that has been afflicted with a
" plague. Every house looks like a tomb of the
" dead ! For two miles I have seen but one man in
" it. Poor creatures ! And so all have left their
" hard-earned homes ? "

Here she burst into tears.

" Oh ! Alfred (to her husband), something must
" be done to bring them back ! Do not permit the
" army to stay in the city ! Can't you do something
" for them ? "

" Yes, madam," said he, " I shall do all I can, rest
" assured. I only wish I could be in Washington
" for two hours ; I am persuaded that I could con-
" vince the Government that we have no need for
" troops."

CHAPTER XX.

THE ARRIVAL OF PEACE COMMISSIONERS. EXTRA-
ORDINARY COUNCIL BETWEEN THEM AND THE
MORMON LEADERS. A SINGULAR SCENE IN THE
COUNCIL. ARRIVAL OF A COURIER WITH DES-
PATCHES. " STOP THAT ARMY ! OR WE BREAK
UP THE CONFERENCE." " BROTHER DUNBAR, SING
ZION ! " THE PEACE COMMISSIONERS MARVEL, BUT
AT LAST FIND A HAPPY ISSUE. RETROSPECTIVE,
VIEW OF THE MORMON ARMY.

The honorable course of Van Vliet, in protesting
against an exterminating war upon a religious
people, coupled with the guarantee which Colonel
Kane had personally given to the Government for
the essential loyalty of the Mormons, made the
sending of peace commissioners imperative. An
example of the right course once set by the noble:
Kane, President Buchanan hastened to send Gov-
ernor L. W. Powell, of Kentucky, and Major Ben
McCullough, of Texas, to negotiate a peace. They
arrived in the city in June, 1858. Wilford Wood-
ruff's Journal contains the following minute of their
first council with the Mormon leaders :

Jtine nth. — The Presidency and many others
met with the Peace Commissioners in the council

o

08 LIFE OF BRIG1IAM YOUNG J OR,

house. Governor Powell, a Senator elect from
Kentucky, and Major McCullough, from Texas,
were then introduced to the assembly, as the Peace
Commissioners sent by President Buchanan. Gov-
ernor Powell spoke to the people, and informed us
what the President wished at our hands. President
Buchanan has sent by them a proclamation, accusing
us of treason and some fifty other crimes, all of
which charges are false. Yet he pardons us for all
these offences, if we will be subject to the constitu-
tion and laws of the United States, aud if we will
let his troops quarter in our Territory. He pledged
himself that they should not interefere with our
people, nor infringe upon any city, and said that he
had no right to interfere with our religion, faith or
practice.

The Peace Commissioners confirmed the same.
They did not wish to enquire into the past at all,
but wished to let it all go and talk about the pres-
ent and the future.

Rejlectio7is. — President Buchanan had made war
upon us, and wished to destroy us because of our
religion, thinking that it would be popular, but he
found that Congress would not sustain him in it.
He has got into a bad scrape, and wishes to get out
of it the best he can. Now he wants peace, because
he is in the wrong, and has met with a strong re-
sistance from a high-minded people in these moun-
tains, which he did not expect to meet. We are
willing to give him peace upon any terms that are
honorable ; but not upon terms which are disho7ior-
able to us. We have our rights and dare maintain
them, trusting in God for victory. The Lord
has heard our prayers, and the President of the
United States has been obliged to ask for peace.

The naivete of Apostle Woodruff, in his idea of
p-iving peace to James Buchanan, is something

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 309

amusing, yet is there a severe democratic philosophy
in it. " He wants peace because he is in the wrong
11 and has met with a strong resistance from a high-
" minded people," is a passage that any President of
the United States might profitably lay under his
official pillow, whether in his administration towards
a Utah or a Louisiana. But Brother Woodruffs
emphatic view that the Mormons could only consent
to a peace on honorable terms ; with his brave
assertion that, " we have our rights, and dare main-
" tain them, trusting in God for victory," has in it a
touch of sublimity.

That day also witnessed a striking example of
Governor Young's tact and resolution :

The Peace Commissioners had laid their message
before the council. Brigham had spoken, as well
as the Peace Commissioners. The aspect of affairs
was favorable. Presently, however, a well-known
character was seen to enter, approach the ex-Gov-
ernor and whisper to him. He was from the Mor-
mon army. There was at once a sensation, for it
was appreciated that he brought some unexpected
and important news. Brigham arose ; his manner
self-possessed, but severe.

" Governor Powell, are you aware, sir, that those
" troops are on the move towards the city ? "

"It cannot be ! " exclaimed Powell, surprised,
"for we were promised by the General that they
" should not move till after this meetinof."

" I have received a dispatch that they are on the
" march for this city. My messenger would not
" deceive me."

It was like a thunderclap to the Peace Commis-
sioners : they could offer no explanation.

3IO LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

" Is Brother Dunbar present?" inquired Brigham.
" Yes, sir," responded the one called.
What was coming now ?
" Brother Dunbar, sing Zion."
The Scotch songster came forward and sang the
following soul-stirring lines, by Chas. W. Penrose :

O ye mountains high, where the clear blue sky
Arches over the vales of the free ;
Where the pure breezes blow,
And the clear streamlets flow,
How I've longed to your bosom to flee.
O Zion ! dear Zion ! land of the free,

My own mountain home, now to thee I have come,
All my fond hopes are centred in thee.

Though the great and the wise all thy beauties despise,
To the humble and pure thou art dear ;
Though the haughty may smile
And the wicked revile,
Yet we love thy glad tidings to hear.
O Zion ! dear Zion ! home of the free ; t

Thou wert forced to fly to thy chambers on high,
Yet we'll share joy or sorrow with thee.

In thy mountain retreat, God will strengthen thy feet ;
On the necks of thy foes thou shalt tread ,
And their silver and gold,
As their prophets have told,
Shall be brought to adorn thy fair head.
O Zion ! dear Zion ' home of the free ;

Soon thy towers shall shine with a splendor divine,
And eternal thy glory shall be.

Here our voices we'll raise, and we'll sing to thy praise,
Sacred home of the prophets of God ;
Thy deliverance is nigh,
Thy oppressors shall die,
And the gentiles shall bow 'neath thy rod.
O Zion ! dear Zion ! home of the free ;

In thy temples we'll bend, all thy rights we'll defend,
And our home shall be ever with thee.

The action of Brigham had been very simple in
the case, but there was a world of meaning in it. In-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 3II

terpreted it meant — " Gentlemen, we have heard
" what President Buchanan and yourselves have
" said about pardoning us for standing up for our
" constitutional rights, and defending our lives and
" liberties. We will consent to a peace on honor-
" able terms; but you must keep faith with us. Stop
" that army ! . or our peace conference is ended.
" Brethren, sing Zion. Gentlemen, you have our
" ultimatum ! "

With the theme before him, the reader will fully
appreciate what the singing of "Zion" meant. There
have been times when the singing of that hymn
by the thousands of the Saints has been almost as
potent as that revolutionary hymn of France — the
Marsellaise. This was such a time.

After the meeting, McCullough and Governor
Cumming took a stroll together, for the purpose of
chatting upon the affairs of the morning.

" What will you do with such a people ? " asked
the Governor, with a mixture of admiration and
concern.

" D n them ! I would fight them, if I had

" my way," answered McCullough.

" Fight them, would you ? You might fight
" them, but you would never whip them. They
" would never know when they were whipped I Did
" you notice the snap in those men's eyes to-day ?
" No, sir ; they would never know when they were
41 whipped ! "

And Governor Cumming was right. When did a
God-fearing people, with providence seen in every
foot-mark of their career, ever know that they were
whipped ? Did ancient Israel ? Did Cromwell and

312 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OK,

his Ironsides ? Have the Mormons to this hour
known it ? They never will know it, so long as they
remain a God-fearing and God-trusting people !

At nisfht the Peace Commissioners and the Mor-
mon leaders were again in council, in private ses-
sion, until ten o'clock.

Next morning, at nine o'clock, the conference
again convened, and the doors were thrown open
to the public. Elders John Taylor, George A.
Smith and Adjt.-Gen. James Ferguson gave expres-
sion to their views and feelings, and then President
Young spoke at some length, with a will and a
purpose in every word. Woodruff, in his journal,
says :

" Then the Peace Commissioners heard the roar
" of the lion of the Lord ! "

The following brief synopsis of his speech, fur-
nished by one present, will give the reader an idea
of what the " roar of the lion of the Lord " was at
that critical moment, when the issue of peace or
war was pending :

President Young arose. He said : " I have
" listened very attentively to the commissioners,,
" and will say, as far as I am concerned, I -thank
'■' President Buchanan for forgiving me, but I really
" cannot tell what I have done. I know one thing,.
" and that is, that the people called ' Mormons ' are
'' a loyal and a law-abiding people, and have ever
" been. Neither President Buchanan nor any one
" else can contradict the statement. It is true, Lot
" Smith burned some wagons containing Govern-
" ment supplies for the army. This was an overt
" act, and if it is for this we are to be pardoned,.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 313

" I accept the pardon. The burning of a few U. S.
" wagons is but a small item, yet for this, combined
" with false reports, the whole Mormon people are
" to be destroyed.

" What has the United States Government per-
" mitted mobs to do to us ? Gentlemen, you can-
" not answer that question ! I can, however, and so
" can thousands of my brethren. We have been
" whipped and plundered ; our houses burned, our
" fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and children
" butchered and murdered by the scores. We have
" been driven from our homes time and time again ;
" but have troops ever been sent to stay or punish
"those mobs for their crimes? No! Have we
" ever received a dollar for the property we have
" been compelled to leave behind ? Not a dollar !
" Let the Government treat us as we deserve ; this
" is all we ask of them. We have always been loyal
" and expect to so continue ; but, hands off ! Do
" not send your armed mobs into our midst. If you
11 do we will fight you as the Lord lives. Do not
" threaten us with what the United States can do,
" for we ask no odds of them or their troops. We
" have the God of Israel — the God of battles — on
" our side ; and, let me tell you, gentlemen, we fear
" not your armies. I can take a few of the boys
" here and, with the help of the Lord, can whip the
" whole of the United States. These, my brethren,
" put their trust in the God of Israel, and have no
" fears. We have proven him and he is our friend.
•' Boys, how do you feel ? Are you afraid of the
" United States? (Great demonstration among the

314 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

" brethren.) No ! No ! We are not afraid of man
" nor of what he can do.

" The United States are going to destruction as
" fast as they can go. If you do not believe it,
" gentlemen, you will soon see it to your sorrow.
"It will be with them like a broken potsherd. Yes,
" it will be like water spilled on the ground, no more
" to be picked up.

" Now let me say to you Peace Commissioners,
" we are willing those troops should come into our
" country but not to stay in our city. They may
" pass through it if needs be, but must not quarter
" less than 40 miles from us.

1 If you bring your troops here to disturb this
" people, you have got a bigger job than you or
11 President Buchanan have any idea of. Before the
" troops reach here, this city will be in ashes, every
"tree and shrub will be cut to the ground, and
" every blade of grass that will burn shall be
" burned.

" Our wives and children will go to the canyons,
" and take shelter in the mountains ; while their.
" husbands and sons will fight you ; and, as God
" lives, we will hunt you by night and by day until
" your armies are wasted away. No mob can live
" in the homes we have built in these mountains*
" That's the programme, gentlemen, whether you
" like it or not. If you want war you can have it ;
" but, if you wish peace, peace it is ; we shall be
" glad of it."

The Commissioners " wished peace ; " and the
result of their negotiations was embodied in the
following note to General Johnston :

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 315

Great Salt Lake City, Utah Ten,
June 12th, 1858.

Dear Sir : We have the pleasure of informing
you that after a full and free conference with the
chief men of the Territory, we are informed by
them that they will yield obedience to the constitu-
tion and laws of the United States ; that they will
not resist the execution of the laws in the Territory
of Utah ; that they cheerfully consent that the civil
officers of the Territory shall enter upon the dis-
charge of their respective duties, and that they will
make no resistance to the army of the United
States in its march to the valley of Salt Lake or
elsewhere. We have their assurance that no resist-
ance shall be made to the officers, civil or military,
of the United States, in the exercise of their various
functions in the Territory of Utah.

The houses, fields and gardens of the people of
this Territory x particularly in and about Salt Lake
City, are very insecure. The animals of your army
would cause great destruction of property if the
greatest care should not be observed in the march
and the selection of camps. The people of the
Territory are somewhat uneasy for fear the army,
when it shall reach the valley, will not properly re-
spect their persons and property. We have assured
them that neither their persons nor property will
be injured or molested by the army under your
command.

We would respectfully suggest, in consequence
of the feeling of uneasiness, that you issue a proc-
lamation to the people of Utah, stating that the
army under your command will not trespass upon
the rights or property of peaceable citizens during
their sojourn in or march through the Territory.
Such a proclamation would greatly allay the exist-
ing anxiety and fears of the people, and cause those
who have abandoned their homes to return to their
houses and farms.

3*6 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

We have made inquiry about grass, wood, &a
necessary for the subsistence and convenience of
your army. We have conversed with Mr. Ficklih
fully on this subject, and given him all the informa-
tion we have, which he will impart to you.

We respectfully suggest that you march to the
valley as soon as it is convenient for you to do so. '

We have the honor to be, very respectfully, your
obedient servants,

L. W. Powell, ) ~ , , TT , 7 i

Tv/r r r Corns to Utah.

Ben McLullough, j ?

To General A. S. Johnston, commanding Army of
Utah, Camp Scott, Utah Territory.

To this came the following reply : J

Head-quarters, Department of Utah,

Camp on Bear River, June 14th, 1858.

Gentlemen : Your communication from Salt
Lake City was received to-day. The accomplish-
ment of the object of your mission entirely in ac-
cordance with the instructions of the President, and
the wisdom and forbearance which you have so ably
displayed to the people of the Territory, will, I
hope, lead to a more just appreciation of their rela-
tions to the General Government, and the estab-
lishment of the supremacy of the laws. I learn with
surprise that uneasiness is felt by the people as to
the treatment they may receive from the army.
Acting under the two-fold obligations of citizens
and soldiers, we may be supposed to comprehend
the rights of the people, and to be sufficiently
mindful of the obligations of our oaths, not to dis-
regard the laws which govern us as a military body.
A reference to them will show with what jealous
care the General Government has guarded the
rights of citizens against any encroachments. The

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 317

army has duties to perform here in execution of the
orders of the Department of War, which, from the
nature of them, cannot lead to interference with
the people in their varied pursuits ; and if no ob-
struction is presented to the discharge of those
duties, there need not be the slightest apprehension
that any person whatever will have any cause of
complaint.

The army will continue its march from this posi-
tion on Thursday, 17th instant, and reach the valley
in five days. I desire to encamp beyond the Jordan,
on the day of arrival in the valley.

With great respect, your obedient servant,

A. S. Johnston,

Colonel Second Cavalry and Brevet Brigadier-
General United States Army, Commanding.

To the Hon. L. W. Powell and Major-General
McCullough, United States Commissioners to
Utah.

Although a minute statement of the Mormon
military force and the methods by which it was
turned to good account in the " Utah war," might
be of interest to many, it will doubtless satisfy
the general reader to simply know that only so
much of that force was used as was necessary to
effectively carry out President Young's policy, i. e.,
to harass and retard the advance of the U. S. army
until a more peaceful solution of the question at
issue could be reached. In the execution of that
policy an effective body of scouts was sent forward,
with orders of which the following is a sample,
which orders were scrupulously obeyed and executed
with precisely the results desired :

3l8 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

On ascertaining the locality or route of the
troops, proceed at once to annoy them in every pos-
sible way. Use every exertion to stampede their
animals, and set fire to their trains. Burn the whole
country before them and on their flanks. Keep them
from sleeping by night surprises. Blockade the road
by felling trees, or destroying the fords when you
can. Watch for opportunities to set fire to the grass
on their windward, so as, if possible, to envelop
their trains. Leave no grass before them that can
be burned. Keep your men concealed as much as
possible, and guard against surprise.

They were also ordered to not " shed blood " if it
could possibly be avoided, and then only and strictly
in self-defence. Although often fired upon by the
soldiers, in no single instance did they return the
fire.

CHAPTER XXI.

REFLECTIONS UPON THE " UTAH WAR." THE RE-
ACTION. CURRENT OPINION, AS EXPRESSED BY
THE LEADING JOURNALS OF EUROPE AND AMERICA.

That the Mormons would have fought ; that they
would, in the language of their leader, have made a
" Moscow of Utah, and a Potters Field of every
" canyon," had the United States pushed the issue
to extermination, there can be little doubt, knowing
how terribly so large a number as 75,000 or 80,000
earnest religionists could have avenged themselves,
at that day, in those far-off mountains and valleys.

But the opinion expressed to Van Vliet, relative
to the reaction which would come in the public
mind over Utah affairs, and his fixed resolve, if pos-
sible, to prevent the shedding of blood, as declared
in that conversation, and still more emphatically
pronounced in all his orders to Lieut.-Gen. Wells,
best denote what was Brighams policy and first
desire. True, it had been as much as he could do
to keep his people from fighting the " enemy," not-
withstanding the "enemy" was the United States.
A quarter of a century's injustice had fired them
with an indignation that made them feel a super-
human strength. But though the founder of Utah
had resolved to conquer the issue, he had no wish

320 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

to lose the nucleus of a nationality which his people
had evolved in their isolation.

Why then this second exodus ? Why ? It was
the very backbone of Brigham's triumph. As great
a triumph was in that exodus as in any battle the
great Napoleon ever fought. It was in fact the
exodus which forced the " reaction." It carried
such an overwhelming power that it became like an
irresistible impulse in the public mind. Not only
was this so with the American people, but it was so
with every nation in Europe. ' Deep sympathy,
blended with a mighty admiration, was felt for a
people who could at once dare a war with the
United States, in defence of their religious cause,
and rise to such a towering heroism as to sanctify
their act by a universal offering of their homes for
sacrifice. This was no common rebellion. These
were no unworthy rebels. No rude defiers of " the
" powers that be " were they : their act placed them
on a level with the men who won the independence
of America : their women were fitting mates of the
mothers, daughters and sisters of the revolution.

The London Times called the Mormons a nation
of heroes. It said :

The intelligence from Utah is confirmatory of
the news that came by the last steamer. This
strange people are again in motion for a new home,
and all the efforts of Governor Cumming to induce
the men to remain and limit themselves to the
ordinary quota of wives have been fruitless. We
are told that they have left a deserted town and
deserted fields behind them, and have embarked
for a voyage, over 500 miles of untracked desert, to
a home, the locality of which is unknown to any

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 32 1

but their chiefs. Does it not seem incredible that,
at the very moment when the marine of Great
Britain and the United States are jointly engaged
In the grandest scientific experiments that the world
has yet seen, 30,000 or 40,000 natives of these
countries, many of them of industrious and temper-
ate habits, should be the victims of such arrant im-
position ? Does it not seem impossible that men
and women, brought up under British and American
civilization, can abandon it for the wilderness and
Mormonism ? There is much that is noble in their
devotion to their delusions. They step into the
waves of the great basin with as much reliance on
their leaders as the descendants of Jacob felt when
they stepped between the walls of water in the red
sea. The ancient world had individual Curiatii, Ho-
ratii, and other examples of heroism and devotion ;
but these western peasants seem to be a nation of
heroes, ready to sacrifice everything rather than
surrender one of their wives, or a letter from Joe
Smith's golden plates.

The following from the New York Times will
give a specimen of what the American press gener-
ally said upon the subject :

Whatever our opinions may be of Mormon
morals or Mormon manners, there can be no ques-
tion that this voluntary abandonment by 40,000
people of homes created by wonderful industry, in
the midst of trackless wastes, after years of hard-
ships and persecution, is something from which no
one who has a particle of sympathy with pluck, for-
titude and constancy can withhold his admiration.
Right or wrong, sincerity thus attested is not a
thing to be sneered at. True or false, a faith to
which so many men and women prove their loyalty,
by such sacrifices, is a force in the world. After
this last demonstration of what fanaticism can do,

322 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

we think it would be most unwise to treat Mormon-
ism as a nuisance to be abated by a posse commita-
tus. It is no longer a social excrescence to be cut
off by the sword ; it is a power to be combated only
by the most skillful political and moral treatment.
When people abandon their homes to plunge with
women and children into a wilderness, to seek new
settlements, they know not where, they give a higher
proof of courage than if they fought for them.
When the Dutch submerged Holland, to save it
from invaders, they had heartier plaudits showered
upon them than if they had fertilized its soil with
their blood. We have certainly the satisfaction of
knowing that we have to deal with foemen worthy
of our steel. * " * If the conduct of the
recent operations has had the effect of strengthen-
ing their fanaticism, by the appearance of persecu-
tion, without convincing them of our good faith and
good intentions, and worse still, has been the means
of driving away 50,000 of our fellow citizens from
fields which their labor had reclaimed and culti-
vated, and around which their affections were clus-
tered, we have something serious to answer for.
Were we not guilty of a culpable oversight in con-
founding their persistent devotion with the insubor-
dination of ribald license, and applying to the one
the same harsh treatment which the law intends for
the latter alone ? Was it right to send troops com-
posed of the wildest and most rebellious men of
the community, commanded by men like Harney
and Johnston, to deal out fire and sword upon
people whose faults even were the result of honest
religious convictions ? Was it right to allow John-
ston to address letters to Brigham Young, and
through him to his people, couched in the tone of
an implacable conqueror towards ruthless savages ?
Were the errors which mistaken zeal generates
ever cured by such means as these ? And have
bayonets ever been used against the poorest and

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 323

weakest sect that ever crouched beyond a wall to
pray or weep, without rendering their faith more
intense, and investing the paltriest discomforts with
the dignity of sacrifice ? " * We stand on

the vantage ground of higher knowledge, purer
faith and acknowledged strength. We can afford
to be merciful. At all events, the world looks to us
now for an example of political wisdom such as few
people, now-a-days, are called on to display. Pos-
terity must not have to acknowledge with shame
that our indiscretion, or ignorance, or intolerance
drove the population of a whole State from house
and home, to seek religious liberty and immunity
from the presence of mercenary troops, in any part
of the continent to which our rule was never likely
to extend.

The famous African explorer, Captain Burton,,
of the British army, closing his description of the
great man who took his people successfully through
that crisis, gives us the following suggestive passage
in his " City of the Saints : "

Such is His Excellency, President Brigham
Young, " Painter and Glazier " (his earliest craft),
prophet, revelator, translator and seer ; the man
who is revered as king or kaiser, pope or pontiff,
never was ; who, like the old man of the mountain,
by holding up his right hand could cause the death
of any man within his reach ; who, governing as
well as reigning, long stood up to fight with the
sword of the Lord, and with his few hundred
guerrillas, against the then mighty power of the
United States ; who has outwitted all diplomacy
opposed to him ; and, finally, who made a treaty of
peace with the President of the great Republic, as
though he had wielded the combined power of
France, Russia and England.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE MARCH OF THE TROOPS INTO SALT LAKE CITY.
RETURN OF THE PEOPLE TO THEIR HOMES.
TREACHERY OF THE JUDGES. MALICIOUS PROSE-
CUTIONS. A REQUISITION MADE BY THE COURT
UPON GENERAL JOHNSTON FOR TROOPS. THE

GOVERNOR PROTESTS. THE MILITARY POWER

FRUSTRATED IN THE ATTEMPT TO ARREST BRIG-
HAM YOUNG. COURAGEOUS ATTITUDE OF GOVER-
NOR CUMMING. MORMON LOYALTY. JOHNSTONS
ARMY ORDERED TO THE POTOMAC. EVACUATION
OF CAMP FLOYD.

Substantially the word of Brigham Young was
fulfilled, in that he had said an invading army should
not enter the city.

General Johnston and his army came not as con-
querors into Zion. The entire chain of circum-
stances, from the start of their expedition, had been
most humiliating to the brave men who deserved
better service. Their march had been but a series
of disasters and failures.

They were merely permitted to pass through the
streets of Salt Lake City on their way to a location
in the Territory well removed from the Mormon
people. Zion was a forsaken city that day. The
Saints were still south with their great leader. If

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. T> 2 5

faith was not kept with them, they did not intend
to return, and war would have been re-opened in
deadly earnest.

It was a sad spectacle to see a community of
earnest religionists who could not trust in the
parent power, even after the proclamation of the
President. But the history of the Mormons to this
hour shows a constant justification of this lack of
confidence.

On the 13th of June, the army commenced its
movement towards the city ; and, on the morning
of the 26th, it may have been seen advancing from
the mouth of Emigration Canyon to make what
once was expected to have been a triumphal en-
trance into conquered Zion, with all " the pomp and
" circumstance of glorious war." Here is the picture
of it as it was, from the pen of an army corres-
pondent :

It was one of the most extraordinary scenes that
have occurred in American history. All day long,
from dawn until after sunset, the troops and trains
poured through the city, the utter silence of the
streets being broken only by the music of the mili-
tary bands, the monotonous tramp of the regiments,
and the rattle of the baggage wagons. Early in the
morning the Mormon guards had forced all their
fellow religionists into the houses, and ordered them
not to make their appearance during the day. The
numerous flags that had been flying from staffs on
the public buildings during the previous week were
all struck. The only visible groups of spectators
were on the corners near Brigham Young's resi-
dence, and consisted almost entirely of gentile
civilians. The stillness was so profound that during
the intervals between the passage of the columns,

326 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

the monotonous gurgle of the city creek struck on
every ear. The Commissioners rode with the
General's staff. The troops crossed the Jordan and
encamped two miles from the city, on a dusty
meadow by the river bank.

But the army correspondent did not properly
construe the death-like stillness and desertion of the
city, when he says the Mormon guard had " forced
" all their fellow religionists into their houses."
They were not in their houses, but in the second
exodus. It : is estimated that there were no less
than 30,000 of the Mormon people from the city
and northern settlements in " the move south.'
They took with them their flocks and herds, their
chattels and furniture. When that army marched
through the streets of Zion, grass was growing, on
the side-walks, and there were only a few of " the
boys " left on the watch in the city, to see that the
people were not betrayed. Some of the officers
were deeply moved by the scene and the circum-
stances. Lieutenant-Colonel Phillip St. George
Cooke, who had commanded the Mormon battalion
in the Mexican war, rode through the city with
uncovered head, leading the troops, but forgetting
not his respect for the brave Mormon soldiers who
had so nobly served with him in their country's
cause.

Cedar Valley, forty miles west of the city, was
chosen as their permanent camping place, which was
named Camp Floyd, in honor of the then Secretary
of War.

Return we now to the Saints in their flight. It

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 327

had taxed their faith and their means to an abso-
lute consecration of their all, and called forth as
much religious heroism as did their first exodus
from Nauvoo. Gallant old Governor Cumming
was almost distracted over this Mormon episode.
He was not used to the self-sacrifices and devo-
tion of the peculiar people whom he had taken
under his official guardianship. They were more
familiar than he with this part of their eventful
drama. Familiarity had bred in them a kind of
contempt for their own sufferings and privations.
So they witnessed their new Governors concern
for them with a stoical humor. They were, indeed,
grateful, but amused. They could not feel to
deserve his pity, yet were they thankful for his
sympathy. They sang psalms by the wayside. He
felt like strewing their path with tears. He followed
them fifty miles south, praying them, as would a
father his wayward children, to turn back. But the
father whom they knew best was leading them on.

" There is no longer danger. General Johnston
" and the army will keep faith with the Mormons.
u Every one concerned in this happy settlement will
" hold sacred the amnesty and pardon of the
" President of the United States ! By G — d, sirs,
" Yes."

Such was the style of Governor Cumming's
pleadings with the " misguided " Mormons. But
Brigham and his chiefs replied with a quiet fixed-
ness of purpose :

" We know all about it, Governor. We remem-
" ber the martyrdoms of the past ! "
: "; " 'Twa$ madness for the people to thus forsake

328 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

" their homes." So thought their good Governor.
" None would be so base as to desecrate the family
11 hearth, or to outrage the purity of the wives and
" daughters of Mormondom."

But the answer came in the words and actions of
Brigham Young :

" We are leaving our homes that they may be
" preserved — that our sacrifice, like that of Abra-
" ham, may be accepted, not consumed. We have,
" on just such occasions, seen our disarmed men hewn
" down in cold blood, our virgin daughters violated,
" our wives ravished to death before our eyes. We
" know all about it, Governor Cumming."

It was a terrible logic that thus met the brave
mediation of the fine old Georgian successor of
Governor Young, who coupled patriotism with hu-
manity, and believed in the primitive faith that
American citizens and American homes must be
held sacred.

Brigham Young alone could turn the tidal wave,
and lead back the Mormon people to their homes.
Had he continued onward to Sonora, Central
America, anywhere — to the ends of the earth — his
people would have followed him.

The Mormon leaders, with the body of the
Church, were at Provo on the evening of the 4th of
July ; General Johnston and his army being about
to take up their quarters at Camp Floyd. It was
on that evening that Governor Cumming informed
his predecessor that he should publish a procla-
mation to the Mormons for their return to their
homes.

11 Do as you please, Governor Cumming," replied

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 329

Brigham, with a quiet smile. " To-morrow I shall
" get upon the tongue of my wagon, and tell the
" people that / am going home, and they can do as
" they please."

On the morning of the 5th, Brigham announced
to the people that he was going to start for Salt
Lake City ; they were at liberty to follow him
to their various settlements,, as they pleased. In
a few hours nearly all were on their homeward
march.

But scarcely had the people returned to their
homes, ere they had abundant proof how much they
could have trusted a united Federal power, in an
anti-Mormon crusade, with an army at its service to
subvert the civil and religious liberties of the people.

The machinery of the Federal power was soon set
in motion. Chief Justice Eckles took up his quar-
ters at Camp Floyd ; Associate Justice Sinclair was
assigned to the district embracing Salt Lake City ;
and Associate Justice Cradlebaugh was assigned to
the judicial supervision of all the southern settle-
ments ; and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Jacob
Forney, and Alexander Wilson, Territorial District
Attorney, entered upon the discharge of their
duties.

The Governor from the beginning assumed a
pacific attitude, in which he was seconded by Super-
intendent Forney and District-Attorney Wilson.
But the three Judges, in concert with the marshal,
united in the prosecution of past offences that had
naturally arisen out of the condition of hostility,
just brought to a happy and peaceful issue. It is
needless to add that although these prosecutions

330 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

were conducted with great vigor, they were justly
fruitless of results.

In the course of one of these prosecutions, Judge
Cradlebaugh made a requisition upon General
Johnston for troops to act. as protection to certain
witnesses, and also, in the absence of a jail, to serve
as a guard over the prisoners. The Mayor of Provo
protested that the presence of the military was an
infringement upon the liberties of his fellow-citizens ;
but the Judge answered that he had well considered
the request before he had made it. A petition was
sent to Governor Cumming, and he asked General
Johnston to withdraw the troops, asserting that the
Court had no authority to call for the aid of the
military, except through him. The Judges inter-
preted General Johnston's instructions from the
War Department adversely to the statement of the
Governor, and the troops were continued at Provo.
On the 27th of March (1859), tne Governor issued
a proclamation protesting against the continuance of
the troops at Provo, taking open ground against
the action of the military commander.

About this time was concocted a conspiracy to
arrest Brigham Young. It was proposed that a
writ be issued for his apprehension. The officers
entrusted with its execution presented themselves
at the Governor's office, to request his co-operation.
But Governor Cumming stoutly resisted the at-
tempted outrage, and the military officers entrusted
with its perpetration returned to Camp Floyd dis-
comfited. Immediately the news was circulated
that General Johnston would send two regiments
of troops and a battery of artillery to enforce the

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 33 I

writ for the apprehension of Brigham. Governor
dimming promptly notified General Daniel H.
Wells to hold the Utah militia in readiness to act
on orders. This was on a Sunday evening. By
ten o'clock on Monday morning five thousand
troops were under arms. Had the United States
forces attempted to enter the city the struggle
would have commenced, for the Governor was de-
termined to carry out his instructions.

Happily at this juncture an official letter from
Washington decided that the military could only be
used as a posse on a call from the Governor ; and
thus the matter ended without a collision, and
Governor Cumming became thoroughly established
in authority, receiving the cordial support of the
people, and the respectful consideration of his
Federal associates.

It was an undisguised fact that, up to this time,
the Federal judges had diligently sought to violate
the Presidential amnesty and betray the people. It
was the uncompromising integrity and honor of
Governor Cumming alone that saved the Territory
from a bloody collision between the citizens and
soldiers.

But, while this conspiracy of the judges was
being enacted, the Mormons did the best they
could to prove to the nation that they had returned
to their loyalty, even accepting the view that they
had been in rebellion. At the very moment the
conspiracy was at its height, soon after the attempt
of the military, instigated by the judges, to arrest
Brigham Young, the Lieut-General of the Utah
militia issued the following :

332 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

Special Order No. 2.

Head-quarters, Nauvoo Legion,
Adjutant-General's Office, G. S. L. City.

July 1st, 1859.

Monday, the 4th, will be the eighty-third anniver-
sary of the birth of American freedom. It is the
duty 0/ every American citizen to commemorate the
great event ; not in a boisterous revelry, but with
heart full of gratitude to Almighty God the Great
Father of our rights.

The Lieutenant-General directs for the celebra-
tion in the city as follows :

1st. — At sunrise a salute of thirteen guns will be
fired, commencing near the residence of His Excel-
lency the Governor, to be answered from a point on
South Temple Street, near the residence of Presi-
dent Brigham Young.

The national flag will be hoisted at the signal
from the first gun, simultaneously at the residence
of Governor Cummings and President Young, at
the office of the Territorial Secretary, and the resi-
dence of the United Stages Attorney. Captain
Pitts band will be stationed at sunrise opposite the
residence of Governor Cummings, and Captain
Ballo's band opposite the residence of President
Young.

At the hoisting of the flags the bands will play the
" Star Spangled Banner."

2d. — After the morning salute the guns will be
parked at the Court House till noon, when a salute
of 33 guns will be fired.

3d. — At sunset a salute of five guns, in honor of
the Territories, will be fired, and the flags lowered.

4th. — For the above service Lieutenant Atwood
and two platoons of artillery will be detailed. Two
six-pounder iron guns will be used for the salutes.
Also a first-lieutenant and two platoons of the 1st

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 333

cavalry will be detailed as a guard, and continue on
guard through the day. The whole detachment will
be dismissed after the sunset salute.

5th. — Col. J. C. Little, of the General's staff, will
perform the duties of marshal of the day, with per-
mission to select such deputies as he may require
to assist him. The Declaration of Independence
will be read by him from the steps of the court-
house at noon.

6th. — The bands and the services to be performed
by them will be under the direction of Col. Duzette.
By order of

Lieut.-Gen. Daniel H. Wells,

Adjt.-Gen. James Ferguson.

As might be expected, the great civil war, pre-
cipitated at this time, between the North and the
South, gave to Utah the opportunity for a unique
example in her conduct. She had herself just been
in rebellion ; how would she now act ? This was
a most natural question, and, strange to say, her
answer was almost the reverse of the general pro-
nouncement of what she would do.

And here it might be said that it matters not to
the integrity of history 'whether or not the Mor-
mons be understood by others, as long as they act
consistently with themselves, and their own faith in
their religious and national mission. We have just
seen that on the very first occasion after the " Utah
rebellion," as we will style it to illustrate the exam-
ple, they made haste to re-assert their faith in the
constitution and the Union, by celebrating the day
of American independence very much with the

334 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

same intention as though they had sent a manifesto
to the States of their views and conduct. And just
in keeping with this was the pronouncement of the
Mormon leaders upon secession at its very birth, as
the accompanying fourth of July military order will
suggest :

Head Quarters, Nauvoo Legion,

G. S. L. City, June 25th, 1861.

general orders, no. 1.

1. — Thursday, the 4th of July, being the eighty-
fifth anniversary of American independence ; not-
withstanding the turmoil and strife which distress
the nation established on that foundation, the citi-
zens of Utah esteem it a privilege to celebrate the
day in a manner becoming American patriots and
true lovers of the constitution of their country.

2. — The Lieut.-General directs that district com-
manders throughout the Territory" will conform, as
far as practicable, to the requisitions of the various
committees of arrangements for details.

3. — In Great Salt Lake City, at the request of
the committee of arrangements, the following de-
tails will be made, and placed under the direction
of Major John Sharpe, marshal of the day, viz. :

One company of the 1st, and one of the 3d regi-
ments of infantry.

One company of light artillery, and two guns.

Two brass bands and one martial band.
By order of

Lieut-Gen. D. H. Wells,
James Ferguson, Adjt.-Gen.

This military manifesto, just after the national
flag had been fired upon at Fort Sumter, meant
simply that Utah was going to stand by the Union

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 335

and the constitution — or, as the Mormons would
express it, in good apostolic language — they had
resolved to " stick to the old ship Zion."

General Albert Sidney Johnston and his army
were ordered from Utah to the Potomac, and in
the early Autumn of 1861 the troops marched east-
ward. Thus ended President Buchanans military
expedition against the Mormons. They had been
as Philistines to modern Israel. What would
they be to the South ? They had gone up against
Zion with the noise of battle, but " The Lord had
" given them into the hands of his people."

But the service upon which General Johnston
was now ordered, was more congenial to his soldiers,
and worthier his military genius than was the
crusade upon a God-fearing people. True, he joined
the South, refusing to maintain the Union and the
constitution ; yet he certainly proved himself a great
general, and won for himself a national fame.

Before evacuating Camp Floyd General Johnston
destroyed all of the ordnance and ammunition of
the post, a proceeding quite in keeping with the
entire extravaganza of the Utah war, from the
beginning to the end. Perhaps this afterwards
famous Confederate general, before his departure
from Utah, had revised his views of the secession
proclivities of Brigham Young. At least, if he
could not understand the apostolic motives which
moved the Mormons and their great leader, he
might have discovered that they were not the people
to make war upon the constitution and the Union.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CHANGE IN THE PERSONNEL OF THE FEDERAL
OFFICES. THE MORRISITE TRAGEDY. MORE

OFFICIALS. THE CALIFORNIA VOLUNTEERS AND
ESTABLISHMENT OF CAMP DOUGLAS. ARREST OF
PRESIDENT YOUNG. MIDNIGHT ALARMS. HAR-
MONY RESTORED BY A CHANGE OF FEDERAL
OFFICIALS.

The change of Federal administration incident
to the election of Abraham Lincoln, in due course
gave to Utah a new set of Federal officials. Ex-
cepting the Governor, these proved to be more
acceptable to the people than their predecessors
had been. Indeed, it is no more than just to here
record that, notwithstanding the anti-Mormon atti-
tude of the political party that elevated Mr. Lincoln
to the Presidency, his course towards Utah was
uniformly considerate.

After the departure of Johnston's army, the ordi-
nary current of Utah affairs was not disturbed by
any event of special historical interest, until in the
Spring of 1862, when occurred the somewhat
famous Morrisite schism and tragedy.

Joseph Morris, a Mormon of some talent, origin-
ally from Wales, becoming possessed with a mania,

!

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 337

set himself up as a new prophet, with claims tran-
scending those of the founders of the Church. At-
tracting to himself a considerable following, a colony
of Morrisites was duly established on the Weber
River. Dissensions soon arose, however, and when
certain of the dissenters endeavored to appropriate
what they considered an equitable share of the
community property, and retire from the colony ?
they were restrained by their former companions
and imprisoned. Their friends sought the aid of
the sheriff of the county to effect their release, but
the Morrisites offered a well-organized and armed
resistance. Resort was then had to the courts, and
Chief Justice Kinney, in answer to a petition there-
for, issue a writ of habeas corpus, and instructed the
Territorial marshal to serve the same upon the
belligerent Morrisites. But it, and a second writ
also, was disregarded, and Governor Fuller, at the
instance of the Chief Justice, ordered out a body of
militia, to act as the marshal's posse, to protect and
assist him in enforcing the order of the Court.

The marshal's posse left Salt Lake City on the
1 2th of June, and on the morning following moved
to within v a short distance of the Morrisite set-
tlement, and sent in to them the following procla-
mation :

Head-Quarters, Marshal's Posse,

Weber River, June 13, 1862.

To Joseph Morris, John Banks, Richard Cook, John
Parsons and Peter Klemguard :

Whereas, you have heretofore disregarded and

33%

LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

defied the judicial officer and laws of the Territory
of Utah, and

Whereas, certain writs have been issued for you
from the Third Judicial Court of said Territory,
and a sufficient force furnished by the executive of
the same to enforce the law :

This is, therefore, to notify you to peaceably and
quietly surrender yourselves, and the persons in
your custody, forthwith.

An answer is required within thirty minutes after
the receipt of this notice ; if not, forcible means
will be taken for your arrest.

Should you disregard the proposition, and place
your lives in jeopardy, you are hereby required to
remove your women and children, and all persons
peaceably disposed are hereby notified to forthwith
leave your encampment, and are informed by this
proclamation that they can find protection with this
posse.

H. W. Lawrence, Territorial Marshal,

By R. T. Burton and

Theodore McKean, Deputies.

The proclamation being ignored, the posse sub-
sequently moved forward, when a volley of musketry
from the Morrisites forced them to cover. Desul-
tory firing was engaged in by both parties during
the day, and one member of the posse — Jared Smith
— was killed. The next day being stormy, no move
was made ; but, on the third day (Sunday) another
forward movement was made, and sharp firing was
exchanged, resulting in the death of J. P. Whiplin
of the posse. Toward night a flag of truce was
raised by the Morrisites, and a large number of
them threw down their arms. Supposing the sur-
render to be general, Marshal Burton and others of

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 339

the posse entered the Morrisite defences, whereupon
Morris treacherously ordered a resumption of hos-
tilities, and in the melee which followed, he (Morris)
and a man by the name of Banks were killed. With
the release of the prisoners and the death of Morris
ended the Morrisite movement.

The number of casualties amounted to eight —
two of the posse and six of their opponents. This
fact is strikingly opposed to the impression evidently
sought to be conveyed by several anti-Mormon
historians. A three day's skirmish with such insig-
nificant results in the matter of casualties can by no
reasonable method be elevated into the consequence
of an unnecessary slaughter, much less a massacre.

About this time the retirement of Governor
Dawson and the Associate Justices made way for
Governor Harding and Justices Waite and Drake
who were appointed to succeed them. These three
resolved themselves into an implacable anti-Mormon
clique, and were barely prevented doing much mis-
chief by the just course of Chief Justice Kinney and
Secretary Fuller, coupled with the wary movements,
of Brigham Young.

Whatever may have been the prevailing impres-
sion as to what course Utah would take in conse-
quence of the great civil war — whether she would
join the Confederacy or strike for independence, or
loyally adhere to the cause of the Union — the
country was not long kept in doubt, for she
promptly applied for admission as a State of the
Union. A striking illustration was thus given of the
difference between a grand constitutional assertion

34-0

LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

and defence of the people's rights inside the Union
— such as Utah had just made — and the national
crime of secession.

But it seems to have been inconsistent with the
national estimate of Mormon honor and fidelity to
accept either their application for admission to the
Union as a State, or the loyal sentiment which that
movement expressed. A military surveillance was
therefore determined upon.

Col. Connor, who had raised the 3d Regiment of
California Infantry, in the expectation of doing
service at the seat of war, was, with his regiment,
ordered to Utah, ostensibly to protect the overland
mail route and telegraph line from Indian depreda-
tions. It became at once apparent, however, that
the real object of that disposition of them was to
watch the Mormons.

On the 20th of October, 1862, the California
volunteers reached Salt Lake City, and on the
evening of the same day established " Camp Doug-
las " on the " bench " eastward of, and near, the
town.

The coming of those volunteers to plant their
guns over against the Mormon capital was very
properly looked upon as a menace from the General
Government, and naturally became a subject of irri-
tation to the people. At about this time also
occurred the passage in Congress of the anti-Poly-
gamic bill. All this in view of the record that the
Mormons had just made ! They had not only loy-
ally served the Government that year by protecting
the overland mail from Indian depredations, but

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 34I

their Senators elect were even then knocking at the
door of the national capitol for the admission of
Utah as a State of the Union.

It is entirely proper to state that Colonel Connor,
at that time, interpreted his " mission " to be that of
an aggressor upon the established practices of the
people, and he lost no time in setting about his
" duty." By the publication of a newspaper at Camp
Douglas, and by concerted action with Governor
Harding and the Associate Justices, he contributed
considerable strength to the determined assault then
made upon the theocracy of Mormondom in general,
and upon the great personal influence of Brigham
Young in particular.

The natural reflex of this assault expressed itself
in the form of a grand protesting mass meeting, held
in the tabernacle, March 3d, 1863, from which was
enthusiastically issued a petition for the removal of
the over-zealous and aggressive officials. A com-
mittee was appointed to wait upon Governor Har-
ding and Justices Waite and Drake, to ask them to
resign. This they refused to do, and the above-
mentioned petition was sent to President Lincoln.
A counter petition was gotten up by Colonel Con-
nor and his officers ; and, pending action by the
President, several collisions between the people and
the soldiers were barely prevented.

About this time President Young was arrested,
on civil process, for the offence of polygamy. The
grand jury refused to indict him, however, and the
prosecution fell to the ground.

Two general alarms also occurred to break the
monotony of the times ; one on the occasion of a

34 2

LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

movement from Camp Douglas to arrest several
leading citizens, when, in the dead of night, " all
hands " were called to arms ; the other, when on the
reception at Camp Douglas of the news that Col.
Connor had been brevetted a Brigadier-General for
gallantry in a recent expedition against the Indians,
the whole camp turned out at midnight and made
the ."welkin ring" with cannonading, musketry,
music, &c, in honor of the event. Although this
unique demonstration filled the city with apprehen-
sion, and again brought out the citizen soldiery in
hot haste, it is scarcely proper to now look back
upon the matter with any thought of censure. The
soldiers of the camp simply thought to markedly
display their appreciation of the honor conferred
upon their commander, and the blushing Colonel
may reasonably be supposed to have been modestly
overwhelmed, to the exclusion of any thought of
the alarm that the noisy demonstration was spread-
ing in the adjacent city.

No wonder that in view of these events some
belligerent speech was indulged in. Indeed, how
natural that the representative Mormon should feel
the competency of his fellows to " use up Camp
" Douglas before breakfast," and that the button-
bedecked embodiment of the dignity of the Amer-
ican Republic should retort that his fellows could
" riddle Mormondom " in the time ordinarily re-
quired by a lamb to " whisk his tail." .

The removal, shortly thereafter, of Gov. Harding,
Secretary Fuller and Judge Kinney, was the signal
for a better state of things between Camp Douglas
and the city. James Duane Doty was appointed

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 343

to take Gov. Harding's place, and it is proper to
say that he made an excellent and acceptable
Governor. Amos Reed was appointed to fill the
place of the retiring Secretary, and John Titus was
appointed to the Chief Justiceship.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUE RAISED BY THE MOR-
MONS THE FORERUNNER OF THE NATIONAL CON-
TROVERSY RESULTING IN CIVIL WAR. UTAH AND
THE SOUTH RADICALLY ASSOCIATED IN THE
CHICAGO PLATFORM. JOSEPH SMITH'S REMARK-
ABLE PROPHECY. THE LOYALTY OF THE MOR'
MONS. UTAH NEUTRAL IN THE CONTROVERSY.
BRIGHAM YOUNG'S JUDGMENT UPON THE FRATRI-
CIDAL WAR. HOW THE MORMONS REGARD SECES-
SION. RETROSPECTION. REFLECTION. PREDICA-
TION.

At no time during the Utah war had Brigham
Young acted or spoken as a man in the wrong ;
but as a great leader of a people, maintaining a
constitutional cause. True, he had been bold
enough in his assurance of Divine support to do
this, though it should seem as a grand rebuke to
the whole United States. And, in this, his conduct
was truly apostolic. Generations hence it will be
spoken of as one of the marvels of history. That
Utah war will not be predicated upon anything so
ridiculous as the burning of a few library books r
but will be viewed as a grand assertion of States
rights and the principles of self-government.

And mark how soon after the Mormons had tested

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 345

their constitutional cause it became a national
controversy in which the whole United States were
involved. It was, in seeming, altogether out-
side the Mormon question, but, in reality, it was
deep within its very heart. The case, indeed, is
well expressed in the Mormon adage that "judg-
11 ment begins at the house of the Lord."

Scarcely had the Utah war closed ere, while yet
the troops sent to conquer Mormondom lay at
Camp Floyd in inglorious discontent, the great
eruption came between the North and the South.
It was as though that supreme intending of national
events, which the American tact has so happily hit
off as ** manifest destiny," had worked up quickly;
one after the other, two famous examples. First, it
was the vital question of the nation concealed in
the Mormon question, and next, that same question
exposed throughout the entire Union in one of the
most terrible civil wars that the world has ever
seen. It was the same national controversy in both
cases.

That conflict was over the fundamental question
of the right of States and Territories to evolve
their respective commonwealths, and maintain their
own social and domestic institutions, responsible to
the Federal Government or to a sectional determina-
tion of the States only so far as consistent with the
original Federal compact.

It was Utah that opened this great national con-
troversy upon fundamental principles. It was a
controversy that spread over North and South, giv-
ing life and superhuman fury to the civil war. It
is a controversy more radical to-day than when

346 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

Richmond fell ; and it is a controversy that may
not find a satisfactory settlement for a quarter of a
century to come.

With the exception of the slavery question and
the policy of secession, the South stood upon the
same ground that Utah had stood upon just pre-
viously. True, she had no intention to follow any
example set by Utah, for old and powerful States,
which had ranked first in the Union from the very
foundation of the nation, would not have taken
Utah as their example. Yet this very fact, coupled
with the stupendous view of North and South en-
gaged in deadly conflict, shows how fundamental
was the cause which Utah maintained, and how
pregnant were the times with a common national
issue. Moreover, with that view before us, Brigham
Young stands not only justified, but his conduct
claims extraordinary admiration, for he led his
people safely through that controversy without
secession.

And here we reach the heart of the Mormon
policy and aims. Secession is not in it. Their
issues are all inside the Union. The Mormon
prophecy is, that that people are destined to save
the Union, and preserve the constitution., Joseph
Smith uttered it, and for the last thirty years Brig-
ham Young has been its practical exponent.

The North, which had just risen to power through
the triumph of the republican party, occupied the
exact position towards the South that Buchanan's
administration had held towards Utah. And the
salient points of resemblance between the two cases
were, so striking, that Utah and the South became

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 347

radically associated in the Chicago platform that
brought the republican party into office. Slavery
and polygamy — the " twin relics of barbarism " —
were made the two chief planks of the party plat-
form. Yet neither of these were the real ground
of the conflict. It continues still, and some of the
soundest men of the times believe that it will be
ultimately re-opened in a revolution so general that
nearly every man in America will become involved
in the action.

The war between the North and the South came.
The Mormons had foretold it thirty years before,
and had published the prophecy broadcast, both in
America and Europe. Here is the singular and
remarkable prophecy of Joseph Smith, which,
though measurably fulfilled, evidently still fore-
shadows future events :

REVELATION GIVEN DECEMBER 25TH, 1 832.

Verily thus saith the Lord concerning the wars
that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the re-
bellion of South Carolina, which will eventually
terminate in the daeth and misery of many souls.

The day will come that war will be poured out
upon all nations, beginning at that place; for, be-
hold the Southern States shall be divided against
the Northern States, and the Southern States will
"call on other nations, even the nation of Great
Britain, as it is called, and they shall also call on
other nations in order to defend themselves against
other nations ; and thus war shall be poured out
upon all nations. And it shall come to pass, after
many days, slaves shall rise up against their masters
who shall be marshaled and disciplined for war.
And it shall come to pass, also, that the remnants

348 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG | OR,

who are left of the land will marshal themselves,
and shall become exceedingly angry, and shall vex 1
the gentiles with a sore vexation ; and thus with'
the sword, and by bloodshed, the inhabitants of the
earth shall mourn ; and with famine and plague and,
earthquakes, and the thunder of heaven, and the
fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants
of the earth be made to feel the wrath and indigna-
tion and chastening hand of an Almighty God;
until the consumption decreed hath made a full end
of all nations ; that the cry of the Saints, and of the,
blood of the Saints, shall cease to come up into the
ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, from the earth, to be
avenged of their enemies. Wherefore, stand ye in
holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the
Lord come ; for behold it cometh quickly, saith the'
Lord. Amen ! >

There now had come, in this conflict between the
North and the South, an opportunity for Utah, by
her conduct, to more perfectly define her cause, and'
for the- Mormon leaders to show their integrity in"
the treatment of a constitutional issue. They had
now the chance to set forth to all the world an ex-
ample of loyalty or disloyalty to the Union and the
principles of the Republic, yet, from their own stand-
point, and consistently with their former action.

The North, and the South too, had a correspond^
ing opportunity, for both had been united in their
treatment of the Mormons, notwithstanding they
were about to settle, as between each other, the*
same vital question. The North stood firm to the
Union, but it waged war against State rights, in
favor of the " National Idea," which has at length
, assumed very much the form of centralization within
the Federal Government of powers and rights ori-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 349

ginally belonging to the States, which centralization •
cannot but be repugnant to a republican genius.
On her part the South committed the national crime
of seceding from the Union, though she, with marked
consistency, maintained States rights, without which
republican confederation is the merest farce. Utah,
on her part, kept out of the controversy, going
neither with the North nor with the South, yet re-
maining true to the Union and the constitution.
She believed, in fact, that neither the North nor the
South was wholly right. The North was wrong in
making war against the very genius of the Republic,
and the domestic institutions of States which had
entered into the Federal compact with those insti-
tutions in existence, and the South was quite as
wrong in firing upon the national flag and severing
the Union. The conduct of Utah was a nobler ex-
ample than that of any of the States or Territories^
and her course more consistent with the great
charter and covenant of the nation.

The judgment of Brigham Young upon our fratri-
cidal war, is strikingly illustrated in an often re-
peated anti-Mormon report of one of his expres-
sions. He is said to have told the Government, in
very plain language, that he would " see it in h —
" first, before a man should march from Utah to aid
" in the suppression of the rebellion." Possibly he,
did express himself to that effect. But this meant
precisely what has been just shown — that he had
no patriotic sympathy with a war in which brothers '
were become deadly foes, and in which States that
had been for nearly a century united in a common
cause, stood now arrayed against each other on the

350 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

battle field. That determination was like Brigham
Young, and it showed at once the great statesman
and the self-reliant patriot. It suggests that had he
been President he would neither have allowed a
rebellion nor Federal aggression upon the institu-
tions and rights of the Southern States.

But, had the cause been a different one — a foreign
invasion, or a war to maintain the institutions of the
Republic, judging from the immortal example which
he gave in the exodus, when he sent over five
hundred of his best men into the service of the
nation in the war with Mexico, Brigham Young
would have given, in his subsequent days of strength,
at least five thousand, with a patriotic will. Indeed,
though the Mormons do not believe in prosecuting
their own mission by the sword, it is exactly this
grand occasion to defend the institutions of the
Republic, that they have for forty years anticipated
with such prophetic enthusiasm. When the day
comes the Mormons will not be found wanting.
But they never will be found with secession, nor in
arms to subvert the rights of kindred States by the
establishment of a military despotism.

Another capital illustration was given by Utah.
It was when General Albert Sidney Johnston with-
drew his army at the outbreak of the rebellion, and
went with its remnant into the disunion cause. His
conduct, and the conduct of Buchanans Govern-
ment, certainly did seem inconsistent, but Johnston
was patriotic from his point of view, and certainly
became an illustrious general. Honorably remem-
bered, he rests in a soldier's grave.

A fitting accompaniment to the example of the

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 35 1

Utah army under General Johnston going into the
rebellion was that of Utah herself seeking admis-
sion into the Union. Nor was this at the close of
the war, but in the Spring of 1862, when it was
thought by. no inconsiderable portion of the world
that the issues of the war would be won by the
South. It was universally understood that the
sympathies of France and England were with the
Southern Confederacy. The South did call upon
Great Britain to help her, as Joseph Smith had pre-
dicted, and Great Britain came near lending that
help, as was betrayed by the uncertainty which she
manifested.

The famous Alabama arbitration between the
two Governments, since the close of the war, has
brought to light how much Great Britain, by her
sympathies and the unacknowledged aid of her
people, became a partner with the South. In the
American statement of the case, on the basis of the
Washington Treaty, the count of " consequential
claims " made Great Britain responsible for the
continuance of the war after the battle of Bull
Run. Nothing can be more certain than that had
Palmerston joined Louis Napoleon in a joint recog-
nition of the Southern Confederacy, and acknowl-
edged officially the well-known sympathies of the
people of England towards the South, Great
Britain and France must have been brought into
the war. In such a case, it would seem that
victory must have perched upon the banners of the
South.

Now it was with just this view before them that
the Mormons aeain sought admission into the

35 2

LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

Union as a State. Ncr was this a hypocritical
policy, but another striking assertion of their po-
litical principles and loyalty to the constitution and
the Union. Brigham Young and his compeers who
are proud that so many of their sires were among
the men who founded this nation, and then, in a
later generation, won for it independence, hold, as
we see in every view, that the South committed a
grave error in seceding. They affirm that the
Southern States should have fought out their issue
inside the Union, and under the sanction of the
constitution. They did wrong, the Mormons think,
in setting up a new confederacy, and firing upon
the old flag, thus tarnishing the bright integrity of
their cause. They should have stood upon the
broad platform of States rights, and wrapped the
time-honored flag around them, and they would
have been invulnerable. The Mormons had done
this themselves, and had just come out of their
struggle for constitutional rights victoriously, and
the same conduct has made them invulnerable to
this day. Indeed, Brigham Young had been so
careful upon this point that he dared, as the record
exhibits, to treat the United States army, sent
against Utah, as an unconstitutional force, making
war upon a loyal Territory, and proclaimed that the
Government was traitorously subverting the consti-
tution. True, it was a strange act, but it gave- to
Brigham Young all the advantages of the argu-
ment, and Buchanan was forced, practically, to ad-
mit it. A wonderful instance is this, that the right
is always the strongest, when well pressed to the
issue, though ten thousand to one be against it;

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 353

especially in a republican country, where the rights
of the individual citizen are simply the rights of
the million. The Mormon never would have ad-
mitted that he was a traitor or a rebel, though he
had come to the issue of arms, but would have
fought for the constitution and its guarantees to the
last.

The Mormon view of the great national contro-.
versy, then, is, that the southern States should have
done precisely what Utah did, and placed them-
selves on the defensive ground of their rights and
institutions, as old as the Union. Had they placed
themselves under the political leadership of Brig-
ham Young, they would have triumphed, for their
cause was fundamentally right ; their secession alone
was the national crime.

There are fundamental reasons, too, as previously
instanced, why Brigham Young and the Mormons
stand upon the cause of the Union and the consti-
tution. They do not endorse secession, either as a
national consent or as a successful policy for any
party ; they believe that God is with the Union
and the constitution, and they believe, moreover,
that the time will come when God will call the
Mormon people to save both. Should the emer-
gency ever arise, may we not hope for a glorious
and happy issue, even though accomplished accord-
ing to the words of the Mormon prophet ?

CHAPTER XXV.

THE NATION'S GRIEF OVER THE DEATH OF LINCOLN
FINDS SYMPATHETIC RESPONSE IN UTAH. VISIT
OF THE COLFAX PARTY. THEY ARE CALLED UPON
BY BRIGHAM YOUNG AND THE APOSTLES, AND
SERENADED BY THE PEOPLE. SPEECHES BY COL-
FAX, BROSS AND RICHARDSON.

The assassination of President Lincoln produced
a profound sensation in the minds of the entire
Mormon people, especially among the leaders of
the Church. At the first receipt of the dreadful
news the soldiers (there was now a provost guard
established in the city) seemed ready to vent their
fury on the citizens, but even the rudest of them
soon appreciated that for once they had done in-
justice to the Mormons, in imagining that they
would sympathize with that crowning infamy. The
people too keenly felt the memory of their own
martyrs not to be most genuinely affected by the
stroke which had given to the nation a martyr so
pure, in his life and in his patriotism, as was Abra-
ham Lincoln. Besides, in spite of the pledge of
his party to an anti-Mormon crusade, President
Lincoln had not been unfriendly to the Mormon
people.

In the tabernacle, a united Mormon and Gentile

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 355

service was held, in honor of the illustrious dead,,
and a number of orations were delivered eulo^izine
his character and lauding his virtues.

On the inauguration of President Lincoln, there
had been a fraternization between the city and the
camp, and now again all were united in a fraternal
gathering for the purpose of mourning a common
loss. From that day the barriers between soldier
and citizen have gradually crumbled away, and the
past few years have witnessed many interchanges
of courtesies, cordially rendered.

Next came a prominent event, in the matter of the
visit of Schuyler Colfax and party. It will be remem-
bered that the tour of the then Speaker of the
House, in a semi-official character, to familiarize the
Government with the condition and rapid growth
of the Pacific States and Territories, created quite
a national sensation. The death of Lincoln had
thrown Colfax into an enlarged prominence before
the nation, and for some time there was prospect
of his reaching the Presidential chair. His visit,
therefore, to Salt Lake, was an interesting event,
for it was at once appreciated that the impression
made upon him by this visit would largely shape
the policy of the Government towards Utah.

On the nth of June, 1865, Speaker Colfax,
Lieut.-Governor Bross, of Illinois, Albert D. Richard-
son, of the New York Tribune, and Samuel Bowles,
of the Springfield Republican, made their entrance
into the valley of the Great Salt Lake, where they
were met by a committee of the municipal authori-
ties and influential citizens, and welcomed to the
hospitalities of the city.

1

56 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

. But the Speaker of the House stood upon his
dignity. Esteeming himself a chief representative
of the nation, he did not think it becoming his
national importance to call first on Brigham Young.
This was expressed, and President Young was fully
informed of the mountain of etiquette that bur-
dened the spirit of the honorable Speaker. There
could be no doubt that he wished to see the Prophet.
To have gone away without seeing him would have
taken away half the relish of the visit. So Brig-
ham, in company with several apostles, humored
him.

The interview that followed was unconstrained
and pleasant.

Polygamy, of course, was the great topic. The
marvels that the Mormons had created in the
Desert were freely confessed ; but the peculiar insti-
tution, — that was something which the sensitive
morals of the Speaker could not tolerantly contem-
plate, although he strongly advocated miscegenation!

" Your people must come into harmony with the
41 nation ! " said he, bringing the point home to the
President. " You must do away with polygamy."

But Brigham answered with native simplicity.
What could he do in the matter ? If it was a diffi-
culty with Mr. Colfax, it was a greater difficulty
with himself, as the Moses of his people. If Con-
gress had been in travail over the many-wived ques-
tion, so, also, had Mormondom. It was none of
Brigham's business only as a disciple. 'Twas the
Lord's concern. He had revealed the order of ce-
lestial marriage to Joseph. There was the end of
all controversy.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. '357

The party was generously entertained by a num-
ber of prominent elders, and on the Monday after
their arrival they were serenaded by Professor
Thomas' brass band. Of course the music of Zion
brought the distinguished visitors out to receive
the acclamations of the people. They were intro-
duced to the multitude by Judge Kinney, and in
response to the popular request addressed the citi-
zens from the balcony of their hotel.

No doubt it was evident to Mr. Colfax and his
friends that the welcome was most cordial and sin-
■ cere, and, for the time being, he seemed to have given
way to the happifying influences of Zion. In listen-
ing to his speech that night, one could almost have
fancied that the distinguished visitor had become
already half converted to the new faith. His sud-
denly coming upon this oasis of the great American
Desert, and the generous feast he had partaken of
that day, had wrought a miracle. What his eyes
had beheld was a crowning wonder, even in this
age of wonders. In his enthusiasm he declared
that the nation herself was " indebted to the Mor-
mons." And he was right. Emphatically so, when
he affirmed that California, especially, owed them a
debt of gratitude, for Utah had been the half-way
house and resting-place of Californians.

As for Governor Bross, of Illinois, there was a
genuine earnestness in his expression of admiration
for the people, and for the work of civilization that
they had wrought in the Desert. He was a western
man, and had been associated with the rapid growth
of the West all his life, but what he saw in Utah
surpassed it all, and astonished even him ; and as a.

35^ LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

journalist he heartily pledged his word to the
people that, from that hour, his pen and influence
should be used to do justice to the Mormons. In
this regard he has kept his word.

Mr. Richardson was philosophical, arguing that
the evidences of industry and of a good ordered
society proved that the Mormons could not but be
a virtuous people — a people, indeed, endowed with
the highest social and religious qualities.

The party remained over a week in Salt Lake
City, and on the Sunday evening before their de-
parture Mr. Colfax delivered an oration, in the
Bowery, to an immense audience, on " the Life and
Principles of President Lincoln."

CHAPTER XXVI.

SECOND VISIT OF MR. COLFAX. " WILL THE MORMONS
FIGHT?" "LET US ALONE WITH OUR PROBLEMS."
HE IS INFORMED OF AN APPROACHING SCHISM.
THE SCHISM INAUGURATED. EXCOMMUNICATION
OF THE APOSTATES. PASSING EVENTS. THE RAIL-
ROAD AND THE MAN OF DESTINY. PASSAGE OF
THE FEMALE SUFFRAGE BILL, ETC.

In 1869, Mr. Colfax, then Vice-President of the
United States, again visited Utah ; but this time it
was for a more important purpose than to simply
spy out the land, as on his previous visit. There
can be no doubt that he had at this time a pretty
well-defined programme. It was nothing less than
the suppression of polygamy, even at the cost of
war, if necessary. Nothing less than the complete
overthrow of Brigham Young and the Mormon
hierarchy was to stay his arm. Mormondom, to his
mind, was nothing less than a standing rebeldom,
which ever and anon hurled insulting defiance into
the face of the General Government. This was a
view of easy acceptance by President Grant, and to
accept it was to simply inspire within him the re-
solve to conquer " polygamic theocracy " by the
establishment of a Federal rule, in Utah, as iron-
heeled as that which had just been established over

360 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

the Southern States. To work up the case by the
most summary Congressional proceedings, was as
natural to the occasion as was the consummation of
it, by military force, congenial to the man. Hence,
at that moment, the country looked upon another
Mormon war as being not only probable but
imminent.

, Not a little singular is it that at this moment of
the Vice-President's visit, there was being fulmi-
nated within the Church a schism, which was to be
at once an apparent danger and a real protection ;
yet subsequent events fully substantiate this view.

Colfax came with the question, " Will the Mor-
mons fight ? " He was answered by a revelation of
the impending schism, and implored by the aposta-
tizing elders to " let us alone with bur problems ! " i
A revolution was about to be inaugurated. If the
■Federal power attempted to coerce the people, every^
prospect of success would.be swept away by the co-
hesive impulse of a common defence. The sagacious
Vice-President was at once fully converted to the
encouragement of the disintegration of the Church,
in preference to an attempt to force the issue by the
sword, and thereafter gave direction to his efforts
in consonance with that view.

The war programme was therefore abandoned..
But to return 'to the immediate cause of its aban-
donment :

The movement, whose adherents are familiarly
known as the " Godbeites," took definite shape in
the form of a protestant movement-against a certain
line of policy which President Young had inaugu-
rated in the matter of the commercial relations of

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. ^6 1

the Mormons, and which he was pushing with char-
acteristic vigor and persistence. With this tangible
point of protest were also coupled some points con-
cerning the more abstruse questions of Church
polity and personal orthodoxy. But these latter,
although* doubtless furnishing the conscientious in-
centive to action of Mr. Godbe and his compeers,
cannot be considered the great elements of success,
in whatever of success came out of the movement.
The revolt took shape and strength in that its
element of opposition to President Young's com-
mercial policy attracted to it the support of
every gentile in the Territory. Realizing that a
house divided against itself cannot stand, Brigha'm
promptly and summarily "cut off' 1 the protestant
members, although many of them had thenbefore
been held by him in high esteem

It is not profitable to here recount the details of
that dealing with apostacy. The heart-burnings
and recriminations of those days had best be left to
pass out of thought and remembrance. All that
was honorable and just in the purview of that
movement will surely triumph ; all of it that was
born of selfishness and untruth will surely fail. But
in the broader aspect and higher view, — that it was
a divine intending, to ward off the war-charged
cloud of bigotry that threatened, in Colfax's time, to
overshadow the valleys of Utah, — can be seen a
circumstance that compasseth all selfishness, and
attains to the broadness of a purpose fit to be con-
sidered the purpose of God.

It is claimed that out of the " Godbe movement "
grew up the political opposition party that has

o

62 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG | OR,

since its organization figured somewhat conspicu-
ously, — to the effect, however, of more firmly con-
solidating the power of the Church.

The next important event in the, history of Utah
was the laying of the last rail of the Utah Central
Railroad. The completion of the Union and
Central Pacific lines was a national event, affecting
greatly the destiny of Utah as well as that of the
entire Pacific coast ; but the completion of the Utah
Central was the proper local sign of radical changes.
That event put the Territory en rapport with the
age of railroads, and a world of expansion came to
Mormondom with the laying of the last rail in Salt
Lake City, and a community, originally formed in a
state of isolation, appreciated at once that hence-
forth the hand of the East and the hand of the
West were joined with Utah, and forty millions of
people were at her door. .

It was January 10th, 1870; the weather was cold;
a heavy fog hung over the city of the Great Salt
Lake ; but the multitude assembled, and by two
o'clock p. m. there is said to have been,- gathered
around the depot block not less than fifteen thou-
sand people. As the train with the invited guests
from Ogden and the north came in- sight, dashing
toward the end of the track, shouts arose from the
assembled city. A large steel mallet had been pre-
pared for the occasion, made at the blacksmith's
shop of the public works of the Church. The " last
spike" was forged of Utah iron, manufactured ten
years previously by the late Nathaniel V. Jones.
The mallet was elegantly chased, bearing on the top
an engraved bee-hive (the emblem of the State of

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 363

Deseret),- surrounded by the inscription " Holiness
to the Lord," and underneath the bee-hive were the
letters U. C. R. R. ; a similar ornament consecrated
the spike, both intending to symbolize that Utah,
with the railroad, should still be the " Kingdom of
God." The sun, which had hid himself behind the
clouds during the whole day, burst forth as in joy
to witness the event of the laying of the last rail
almost at the very instant. It was like a glad sur-
prise, and the apostles took it as an omen of good.
The honor of driving the last spike in the first rail-
road built by the Mormon people, was assigned to
President Young.

Another matter worthy of record was the passage,
by the Utah* Legislature, of a bill granting the
suffrage to women. The following is a copy of it :

An Act/giving women the elective franchise in
the Territory of Utah.

Sec. 1. — Be it enacted by the Governor and the
Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah,,
that every woman of the age of twenty-one years,
who has resided in this Territory six months next
preceding any general or special election, born or
naturalized in the United States, or who is the wife,
or widow, or the daughter of a naturalized citizen
of the United States, shall be entitled to vote at
any election in this Territory.

§ 2. — All laws, or parts of laws, conflicting with
this act are hereby repealed.

Approved February 12, 1870.

It has been charged that the ruling motive which
actuated the dominant party in Utah to enfranchise
the women was identical with that which procured
the enfranchisement of the Freedmen, i. e. a desire

364 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

to secure their votes. Be that as it may, it is truly
an " ill wind that blows nobody any good ; " and if
the whirlwind of political strife did put the ballot
into the hands of the noble women of Utah, it is well.
The brothel, the gambling den and the dram-shop
will soon go to the wall, when, the women of
America are permitted to assail them at the ballot-
box.

CHAPTER XXVII.

president grant bent on the conquest of
" mormon theocracy." he appoints shaffer
governor for that purpose. sheridan's
"moral force." Shaffer's military " coup de
main." general wells avoids a collision,
correspondence between the lieut.-general
and the governor. death of shaffer.

The design of President Grant to overthrow
Mormon rule in Utah was developed through vari-
ous methods of action. Dr. Newman's Evangelical
Expedition, and McKean's Judicial Crusade, were
both stamped with the President's seal. But first
came his war policy, which at one time meant the
absolute coiiquest of " Mormon Theocracy " by mili-
tary force, or at least by military rule. This is what
was signified by the appointment of a " War Gov-
ernor," in the person of J. Wilson Shaffer.

In 1868, General Rawlings, then Secretary of
War, visited Utah. The South was in process of
reconstruction, and the Secretary thought that
Utah needed reconstruction quite as much as the
South. ' Casting his eye over the list of his old war
comrades to find the man most fit* for the work, he
determined to select General Shaffer. Rawlings
committed to President Grant his " dying charge,"

366 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

to appoint " Wils " Shaffer of Illinois Governor of
Utah, to conquer Brigham Young. After the death
of the Secretary, on the resignation of Governor
Durkee, the appointment was duly made. Sur-'
prised at the event, and knowing that the choice of
himself, at that critical juncture of Utah affairs, was
not due to political management, Shaffer hastened
to Washington to "inquire" of the President. It
was then that the new Governor learned from the
lips of President Grant that he owed his appoint-
ment to the dead Secretary of War, and was in-
formed of the grand purpose for which he had been
chosen. This is Governor Shaffers own statement;

Shaffer knew that he himself was gradually dying
— that a few short months must close his mortal
career. But he was assigned to a post of honor.
He accepted the appointment as a trust extraordi-
nary from the President of the United States, and
as a legacy left to him by his dead patron and com-
rade. He undertook the " mission " with the "vow*
to execute it before his death. He would make
himself Governor of Utah, to all intents and pur-
poses, if he had to do it by the sword.

"Never after me," said he, "by ! shall it be

" said that Brigham Young is Governor of Utah !"

Governor Shaffer arrived in Utah in the latter
end of March, 1870. Casting about for some object
on which to expend his belligerency, he made en-
quiry of a prominent schismatic as to the feasibility
of successfully attacking polygamy. The answer
was : " I married my wives in good faith. They
" married me in good faith. They have borne me
" children. We have lived together for years, be-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 367

u lieving it was the will of God. The same is true
" of the Mormon people generally. Before I will
" abandon my wives as concubines, and cast off my
" children as bastards, I will fight the United States
" Government down to my boots. What would you
*' do, Governor, in the like case ? "

" By , I would do the same ! "

Soon after this General Sheridan visited Salt
Lake City, for the purpose of establishing another
military post in Utah, " as a moral force," as he ex-
pressed it. The post was duly established at Provo,
and President Grant, inclining to the Vice-Presi-
dent's view, so far modified his policy as to abandon
the idea, for the time being, of forcing a rupture
with the people.

But Governor Shaffer was resolved not to die
before he had executed some military coup de main
against Mormondom. The annual muster of the
Territorial militia gave him the opportunity. Here
is the call for the muster, followed by proclamations
and correspondence between the Governor and the
Lieut-General. They tell their own story :

THE LIEUT.-GENERAL'S ORDER.

Adjut.-General's Office, U. T., Salt Lake City,

August 1 6th, 1870.
General Orders, No. i.

No. 1. — Major-General Robert T. Burton, com-
manding 1st Division, Nauvoo Legion, Salt Lake
Military District, will cause to be held a general
muster, for three days, of all the forces within said
district, for the purposes of drill, inspection and
camp duty.

368 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

No. 2. — The commandants of Utah, Juab, San-
pete, Parawan, Richland, Tooele, Summit and
Wasatch military districts, will cause to be held a
similar muster, not to exceed three days, of all the
forces in their respective districts, to be held not
later than the 1st day of November. Said com-
mandants will cause suitable notice to be given of
time and place of muster, and all persons liable to
military duty to be enrolled and notified.

No. 3. — Bands of music may be organized, and
musicians required to perform duty as per General
Order No. 2.

No. 4. — It is with deep regret that we announce
to the Legion the death of Brigadier-General C. W.
West, commandant of Weber military district.

No. 5. — At the muster of the forces of Cache
military district, there will be elected a Brigadier-
General, who will take command of said district.

No. 6 — District-Commandants will cause all va-
cancies to be filled in their respective districts ; they
will have a rigid inspection of arms and equipments,
and make full and complete returns to this office, on
or before the fifteenth day of November. They are
also enjoined to enforce good order and sobriety,
and to take every precaution to avert the occurrence
of accident from any cause whatever during the
muster.

\ By order of

Lieut-Gen. Daniel H. Wells,

Commanding Nauvoo Legion.

H. B. Clawson,

Adjutant- General U. T.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 369

governor Shaffer's proclamation — i.

Executive Department,
Salt Lake City, Utah Territory,
September 15th, 1870.

Know ye, that I, J. Wilson Shaffer, Governor of
the Territory of Utah, and Commander-in-chief
of the militia of said Territory, by virtue of the
power and authority in me vested by the laws of the
United States, have, this day, appointed and commis-
sioned P. E. Connor, Major-General of the militia
of Utah Territory ; and W. M. Johns, Colonel and
Assistant Adjutant-General of the militia of the
Territory. Now, it is ordered that they be obeyed
and respected accordingly.

Witness my hand and the great seal of said

Territory, at Salt Lake City, this the 15th

day of September, A. D. 1870.

[seal.]

J. M. Shaffer,

Governor.
Attest : Vernon H. Vaughn,

Secretary of Utah Territory..

governor Shaffer's proclamation — 2.

Executive Department,
Salt Lake City, Utah Territory,
September 15, 1870.

Know ye, that I, Wilson Shaffer, Governor of the
Territory of Utah, and Commander-in-chief of the
military of the Territory of Utah, do hereby forbid
and prohibit all musters, drills or gatherings of
militia of the Territory of Utah, and all gatherings

370 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

of any nature, kind or description of armed persons
within the Territory of Utah, except by my orders,
or by the orders of the United States Marshal,
should he need a posse commitatus to execute any
order of the Court, and not otherwise. And it is
hereby further ordered that all arms or munitions
of war belonging- to either the United States or the
Territory of Utah, within said Territory, now in the
possession of the Utah militia, be immediately
delivered by the parties having the same in their
possession to Col. Wm. M. Johns, Assistant Adjt-
General ; and it is further ordered that, should the
United States Marshal need a posse co7nmitatus i to
enforce any order of the Courts, or to preserve
order, he is hereby authorized and empowered to
make a requisition upon Major-Gen. P. E. Connor for
such posse commitattts or armed force ; and Major-
General P. E. Connor is hereby authorized to order
out the militia, or any part thereof, as of my order
for said purposes and no other.

Witness my hand and the great seal of said

Territory, at Salt Lake City, this the 15th

day of September, 1870.

[seal]

J. W. Shaffer,

Governor,
Attest : Vernon H. Vaughn,

Secretary of Utah Territory,

THE LIEUT.-GENERALS REPLY TO THE GOVERNOR.

Adjt.-General's Office, U. T., Salt Lake City,

October 20, 1870.

His Excellency J. W. Shaffer, Governor, and
Commander-in-chief of the militia of Utah
Territory.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 371

Sir : — Whereas, a proclamation has been pub-
lished, emanating from your Excellency, in which
the holding of the regular musters in this Territory
is prohibited, except by your order ; and

Whereas, to stop the musters now, neither the
terms of the proclamation, the laws of the Terri-
tory, nor the laws of Congress requiring reports of
the force and condition of the militia of the Terri-
tory could be complied with ; we, therefore, the
undersigned, for and in behalf of the militia of said
Territory, respectfully ask your Excellency to sus-
pend the operation of said proclamation until the
20th day of November next, in order that we may
be enabled to make full and complete returns of the
militia as aforesaid.

Daniel H. Wells,
Lieut. -Gen. Comg Militia, U. T,

H. B. Clawson,

Adjt.-Gen. Militia, U. T.

THE GOVERNOR'S FIAT.

Executive Department,
Utah Territory, Salt Lake City,
October 27, 1870.

Daniel H. Wells, Esq. :

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of
your communication of yesterday, in which you sign
yourself " Lieutenant-General Commanding the
militia of Utah Territory." As the laws of the
United States provides for but one Lieutenant-
General, and as the incumbent of that office is the
distinguished Phillip H. Sheridan, I shall certainly
be pardoned for recognizing no other.

372 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

In your communication you addressed me as
11 Commander-in-chief of the militia of Utah Ter-
" ritory." It is now twenty years since the act to
organize this Territory was passed by the Congress
of the United States, and, so far as I am informed,
this is the first instance in which you, or any of
your predecessors, in the pretended office which
you assume to hold, have recognized the Governor
of this Territory to be, as the organic act makes
him, the Commander-in-chief, &c. My predecessors
have been contemptuously ignored, or boldly de-
fied. I congratulate you and the loyal people here,
and elsewhere, on the significant change in your
conduct.

You do me the honor to ask me to suspend the
operation of my proclamation of Sept. 15th, 1870,
prohibiting all musters, drills, &c, &c. In other
words, you ask me to recognize an unlawful military
system, which was originally organized in Nauvoo,
in the State of Illinois, and which has existed here
without authority of the United States, and in de-
fiance of the Federal officials.

You say : " Whereas, to stop the proclamation
now, neither the terms of the proclamation, the
laws of the Territory, nor the laws of Congress,
&c, could be complied with." That is, my procla-
mation cannot be carried out, unless I let you
violate it. Laws of the Territory which conflict
with the laws of Congress, must fall to the ground,
unless I will permit you to uphold them, and the
laws of Congress cannot be complied with unless I
will let you interpret and nullify them ! To state
the proposition is to answer it.

Mr. Wells, you know, as well as I do, that the
people of this Territory, most of whom were foreign
born, and are ill acquainted with our institutions,
have been taught to regard certain private citizens
here as superior in authority, not only to the

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 373

Federal officials here, but also at Washington.
Ever since my proclamation was issued, and on a
public occasion, and in presence of many thousands
of his followers, Brigham Young, who claims to be,
and is called, " President," denounced the Federal
officials of this Territory with bitter vehemence,
and on a like occasion, about the same time, and in
his (Young's) presence, one of his most conspicu-
ous followers declared that Congress had no right
whatever to pass an organic act for this Territory ;
that such was a relic of colonial barbarism, and that
not one of the Federal officials had any right to
come to, or remain in, this Territory.

Mr. Wells, you ask me to take a course which,
in effect, would aid you and your turbulent associ-
ates to further convince your followers that you and
your associates are more powerful than the Federal
Government. I must decline.

To suspend the operation of my proclamation
now, would be a greater dereliction of my duty than
not to have issued it.

Without authority from me you issued an order
in your assumed capacity of Lieut.-General, etc.,
calling out the military of the Territory to muster,
and now you virtually ask me to ratify your act.

Sir, I will not do anything in satisfaction of your
officious and unwarranted assumption.

By the provisions of the organic act, the Governor
is made the Commander-in-chief of the militia of the
Territory, and, sir, so long as I continue to hold
that office, a force so important as that of the militia
shall not be wielded or controled in disregard of
my authority, which, by law, and by my obligation,
it is my plain duty not only to assert, but, if possible,
to maintain.

I hope the above is sufficiently explicit to be fully
understood, and supersede the necessity of any
further communications on the subject.

374 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

I have the honor to be, etc.

(Signed) J. W. Shaffer,

Governor and Commander-in-chief of

Utah Territory.

AN OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR SHAFFER.

Editor " Deseret Evening News'. 1

Sir: I find myself under the necessity of request-
ing you to give space in your columns for the en-
closed correspondence between myself and His
Excellency Governor Shaffer. His reply to my
communication reached me yesterday, and it was
only a few hours afterwards that I saw the entire
correspondence in print. I might have felt some
reluctance before this in giving our correspondence
publicity, but now I have no alternative ; my duty
to the public, my regard for truth, and my own self-
respect will not suffer me to remain silent ; and
although Governor Shaffer closes his communication
by saying, that he hopes what he has written will
supersede the necessity of any further communica-
tion on this subject, I am constrained to write you
this letter.

The first point which I will notice in his commu-
nication is the statement that, —

"As the laws of the United States provide for but
one lieut.-general, and as the incumbent of that
office is the distinguished Phillip H. Sheridan, I
shall certainly be pardoned for recognizing no
other."

What inference does Governor Shaffer wish to
draw from this ? The same law of Congress which
provides for one lieut.-general provides for five
major-generals (see Army Register for 1869; also

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 375

General E. D. Townsend's report to General W. T.
Sherman, commanding U. S. army for same year) ;
must we therefore conclude that there shall be no
major-generals of militia in the States or Terri-
tories ? The same law prescribes that there shall
be eight brigadier-generals ; are we to understand
Governor Shaffer that the distinguished gentlemen
who hold these positions in the regular army are
the only ones in the States and Territories who are
to be recognized as such? This being the inference
to be drawn from his language, who shall presume to
recognize any officers of militia in any of the States
and Territories as major-generals and brigadier-
generals, when the law of Congress has already pro-
vided for but five of the former and eight of the
latter ?

As His Excellency seems to take pleasure in re-
ferring to law, permit me also to direct his attention
to the following:

Section 10 of an Act, approved July 28th, 1866,
limits the number of officers and assistant adjutant-
generals in their respective corps, prescribing their
rank, pay and emoluments ; and section 6 of an Act
approved March 3d, 1869, provides that, until other-
wise directed by law, there shall be no new appoint-
ments in the Adjutant-Generals Department ; also
an Act of June 15th, 1844, chapter 69, entitled, " An
Act to authorize the Legislatures of the several Ter-
ritories to regulate the apportionment of represen-
tatives and for other purposes," provides, in section 2,
" that justices of the peace, and all general officers
of militia in the Territories, shall be elected by the
people, in such manner as the respective Legisla-
tures thereof shall provide by law." Also, see
Brightly's Digest of the United States Laws, page
619, on organization of the militia, section 3.

These extracts are from laws of Congress— the
laws for which His Excellency seems to have so
much respect ; and if they are the only laws which.

376 LIFE OF LRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

obtain in this Territory, how can His Excellency
reconcile with them his recent appointment by proc-
lamation of a major-general, and an assistant adju-
tant-general for the militia of Utah ? And what
about the five distinguished incumbents of the office
of major-general already appointed under the law ?
Or, does His Excellency imagine that it falls to his
province to fill the vacancy created by the death of
the lamented George H. Thomas.

The second point in Governor Shaffer's communi-
cation which I will notice, is wherein he states
that —

" So far as I have been informed, this is the first
instance in which you or any of your predecessors,
in the pretended office which you assume to hold,
ever recognized the Governor of this Territory to
be as the organic act makes him to be, the com-
mander-in-chief, etc., etc. My predecessors have been
contemptuously ignored or boldly defied."

It is scarcely necessary for me to remark to any
resident familiar with the history of this Territory,
that Governor Shaffer's information on this subject
is very defective. That which he styles a " pre-
tended office " I have held by the unanimous voice
of the people of the Territory — the office having
been created by Act of the Legislative Assembly'
of the Territory of Utah, approved by the Gov-
ernor, Feb. 5th, 1852, and not transported from Illi-
nois, as stated by Governor Shaffer in another part
of his letter. Even if it were as he states, can no
good thing come out of Illinois ? Or is it such a
crime to copy after anything emanating from that
distinguished State ? I may here add, further, that
I have never had any predecessor in the office since
the organization of the Territory. As to this being
the " first instance " in which I have recognized the 1
Governor of this Territory as the commander-in-
chief, Governor Shaffer is either strangely ignorant
or wilfully misrepresents, for during the first eight

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. .377

years after the organization of the Territory, His
Excellency Brigham Young was the Governor of
the Territory, and I presume no one will dispute
that he was recognized as the commander-in-chief.
During the next four years, while His Excellency
Alfred Cumming was Governor of the Territory,
and also during the administrations of his suc-
cessors up to the present time — with the exception
of Governor Dawson, who only remained in the
Territory about thirty days — I have abundant docu-
mentary evidence to show that I recognized them
as governors and commanders-in-chief of the militia
of the Territory, and have in return been recognized
by them as Lieut.-General commanding militia of
,Utah Territory. Besides being recognized as Lieut.-
General by the predecessors of Governor Shaffer, I
have in every instance been acknowledged as such
in all official correspondence with officers of the
regular army, superintendents of the Indian affairs
and other " Federal officials," both here and out of
the Territory. His Excellency Governor Shaffer
therefore stands distinguished as the first " Federal
officer " who, in reply to a respectful communica-
tion, has so far forgotten what is due from a man
holding his position, as to ignore the common cour-
tesies always extended between gentlemen.

Before ending my reference to this point, permit
me, if it does not trespass too much on your space,
to give you copies of one or two communications
which I have received from predecessors of Gov-
ernor Shaffer :

Executive Department,

Great Salt Lake City,

June 11, 1862.

To Gen. D. H. Wells, commanding militia of Utah

Territory.

Sir : — A requisition has been made upon me this

37$ ■ LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

day by Henry W. Lawrence, Esq., Territorial Mar-
shal for the Territory of Utah, through his deputies,
R. T. Burton, Esq., and Theodore McKean, Esq.,
for a military force to act as a posse commitatus in
the service of certain writs issued from the Third
Judicial District Court of said Territory, for the
arrest of Joseph Morris and others, residing in
the northern part of Davis County, in said district.

It appears that said Joseph Morris, and his
associates, have organized themselves into an
armed force to resist the execution of said writs,
and are setting at defiance the law and its officers.

I therefore require yau to furnish the said Henry
W. Lawrence, Esq., or his deputies aforesaid, a suffi-
cient military force for the arrest of the offenders,
the vindication of justice, and the enforcement of
the law.

Frank Fuller,

Acting-Governor and Commander-in-chief.

Executive Department,

* Great Salt Lake City,

November 26, 1862.

Lieut-Gen. D. H. Wells, Commanding Nauvoo

Legion.

Sir : — I herewith enclose a communication di-
rected to the Governor of this Territory, from the
War Department at Washington, in relation to
arms, &c, furnished by the several States since the
4th of March, 1861. If you-have any information
on the subject applicable to this Territory, I will
be glad if you will report the same to me imme-
diately.

I remain, respectfully yours, &c,

H. S. Harding,
Governor and Commander-in-chief of the

Territory of Utah.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. • 379

P. S. — You will please return the communication
from the War Department, with your report.

As to Governor Shaffer's next paragraph, I fail to
see the point as stated. As has been the usage in
the Territory for years past, and in accordance
with the laws thereof, orders were issued for the
holding of the regular Fall muster of the military
of the Territory in their respective districts. These
orders were dated August 16th, 1870. Some thirty
days after, Governor Shaffer issued his proclamation
prohibiting the holding of musters, drills, &c. In
my communication to him, I simply asked him to
suspend the operation of that proclamation until the
20th of Nov., that the Fall musters might be com-
pleted — they having already been held in some of
the districts — in order that I might comply with the
request of the department made through the Adjt.-
General's office, for Washington city, asking for the
annual return of the militia of Utah Territory, in
accordance with the provisions of the Act of Con-
gress (sec. 1), approved March 20, 1803. How this
can be construed into an attempt to " nullify " the
laws of Congress escapes my penetration, but, on
the contrary, it appears to me that the proclamation
of Governor Shaffer is calculated to produce that re-
sult. As to there being any conflict between the.
laws of the Territory and the laws of Congress,
that is mere assertion, incapable of proof.

As to his allusion respecting what has been said
at public meetings, I have to say that public officers,
f Federal officials " included, are supposed to be
public property, so far as their official acts are con-
cerned, and subject to the scrutiny of the people.
Every man under our Government has the right to
free speech, and to express his opinions concerning
the acts of public officers — a right, moreover, which
is generally indulged in by all parties. I am not
aware that President Brigham Young has " de-

380 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

" nounced the Federal officials of this Territory
" with bitter vehemence," or that if he has, I am
responsible therefor, or that I should be held re-
sponsible for the opinion of any other gentleman in
regard to the power of Congress to organize a
Territorial Government.

I am of the opinion that the people of the Terri-
tory, according to the constitution, ( have the right
to bear arms — that the Legislative Assembly had
the right to organize the militia — that Congress
had the right to declare that the general officers
should be elected by the people in such a manner
as the respective Legislatures of the States and
Territories may provide by law ; that the Governors
of the States and Territories are Commanders-in-
chief of the militia, the same as the President of
j the United States is Commander-in-chief of the
armies and navies of the United States, with Gen-
erals and Admirals under him commanding ; that
the military organization of our Territory follows
that of the Federal Government more closely, per-
haps, than that of any other Territory or State in
the Union ; and that Governors and Commanders-
in-chief are as much the creatures of law as any
other officers, and while they exercise a higher juris-
diction, they are as amenable to law as the humblest
officer or citizen.

I will not take up your valuable space, neither
will I condescend 'to make reference to the conclud-
ing paragraphs of his letter. My only object has
been to vindicate the Legislative Assembly, myself
and the people, as to our rights under the law, so
unwarrantably assailed in the communication of
Governor Shaffer.

Respectfully,

Daniel H. Wells.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 381

Adjutant-General's Office, U. T.,

Salt Lake City, Nov. 12th, 1870. ,

General Orders, No. 2.

1. — So far as the general musters in various mili-
tary districts have not already been held, as con-
templated in General Orders, No. 1, of August
1 6th, 1870, they are hereby postponed until further
orders.

By order of

D. H. Wells.

Lieut. -Gen, Comg JV. L. Militia, U. T.

H. B. Clawson,

Adjtttant-Gcneral, U. T.

Thus was suspended that famous Nauvoo Legion
which, in 1857-58, stood against the army of the
United States. At the time of this occurrence it
numbered about thirteen thousand men, who were
well-armed and equipped and well drilled. First
organized by Joseph, the Prophet, it was subse-
quently brought to a condition of great efficiency
by General Wells. Brigham Young, as we have
seen, was the second lieutenant-general of the
legion, but, after he had sufficiently filled the calling
of a prophet-general, in leading his " Latter-day-
Israel " to the Rocky Mountains, he resigned, and
"Daniel H. Wells succeeded him. Under this
thoroughly military type of man the Legion was per-
fected, having, at the time of its suspension, two
major-generals, nine brigadier-generals, and twenty-
five colonels, with their respective staffs.

Governor Shaffer died in the following month,
October, 1870.

382 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

O

On the next Fourth of July, Lieut-General Wells
issued an order for a part of the militia to participate
in the celebration of that day, but Acting Governor.
George A. Black, in violation of right and courtesy,
not only forbade the parade, but actually caused the
arrest of several militia officers, who met to join in
the celebration of the day, and confined them at
Camp Douglas. The simple recital of this outrage,
in connection with the day and occasion, .is most
sarcastically suggestive.

But the organization still exists, and the yearly
musters have been duly held in many of the military
districts.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

CONGRESSIONAL HISTORY OF UTAH UP TO 1870.
WILLIAM H. HOOPER. THE SETTLEMENT OF

AFFAIRS AFTER THE UTAH WAR. RETURN OF
BERNHISEL TO CONGRESS AND THE PASSAGE OF
THE ANTI-POLYGAMIC BILL | FOLLOWED BY A
GENTILE DELEGATE. HOOPER RETURNED AGAIN
AND THE PRESTIGE OF HOME DELEGATES RE-
STORED. THE CULLOM BILL. HOOPER'S GREAT
SPEECH.

Utah can scarcely be said to have possessed any
political or congressional history until the period of
the war. Previously her condition and career had
been almost entirely primitive and patriarchal. The
Hon. John M. Bernhisel, delegate from Utah through
this period, had served his constituents faithfully ;
but no feature of that service stands out so promi-
nent as to require special mention. The general
history, up to this time, may therefore be considered
as including the congressional.

The " Mormon war," of course, had somewhat
interrupted the relations between Utah and the
nation. In the eyes of the American public Utah
ihad been in rebellion ; although, as we have seen,
the controversy had been amicably settled, and the

3S4 LIFE OF BRIGIIAM YOUNG ; OR,

Mormons had been pardoned of all their political
offences.

It was under this aspect of affairs that William
H. Hooper was elected delegate to Congress, from
Utah, in August, 1859. His position was a delicate
one, his task arduous, and the case he had to handle
certainly a very peculiar and complex case, looking
at it from whatever point of view. Notwithstanding
his constituents held that they were in the right in
the late controversy which had nearly come to '
bloodshed, and notwithstanding their affirmation
that they had stood upon their constitutional
ground, and had merely resisted, by a practical but
a justifiable protest, an unconstitutional invasion of
the rights of American citizens, delegate Hooper
well knew that the general public took another
view of the case. But the great advantage which
Hooper possessed, and which enabled him to master
the situation, was in this thorough appreciation of
the views and shapings of both sides. Therefore,
while the delegate was prepared to stand by his
people, in the defence of all their constitutional
rights, and to ward off any new difficulty, he was
equally ready to " see eye to eye " with members of
Congress. This was the exact reason why Brigham
Young sent him ; indeed, one of Brigham's greatest
gifts is manifested in his choice of the fittest instru-
ments for the work and the times.

Fortunately, also, when Hooper went to Con-
gress, as delegate, in 1859, t ^ le members were dis-
posed to humor the Mormon view of the Utah
expedition and troubles, and he in turn humored
them most politicly.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 385

As we have seen, the public, and especially jour-
nalists and Congressmen, were only too willing to
treat the Utah war as Buchanan's affair, and wipe
the hands of the nation clean of it. With this
feeling came the good-natured inclination to let the
Mormons have all they asked for, if they only
asked in reason. And Congress had a Utah dele-
gate of a most sagacious, practical turn of mind, who
understood his points too well to ask for more than
was certain to be granted, contenting himself, in the
rest, in working up a good feeling towards his con-
stituents.

Delegate Hooper settled everything he touched.
There were two sessions of the Utah Legislature
unrecognized and unpaid ; Governor Young's ac-
counts against the U. S. Treasury were unsettled ;
and the expenses of the Indian war of 1850 were
still due to the Territory. All this the energetic
and influential delegate brought to a settlement.
Besides this financial triumph, a bill which passed
the House, for the suppression of Polygamy,
never became a law, and the thirty-sixth Con-
gress ended, leaving Utah affairs comparatively
tranquil.

Notwithstanding that in the thirty-sixth Congress
Utah matters had met a very fair adjustment, and
that it was indeed the only one in which Utah, up
to this date, had risen to anything like political
importance in the nation, the Hon. John M. Bern-
hisel was returned to the thirty-seventh Congress.
This may have been intended as a .recognition of
the past services of that gentleman, before his final
retirement from public life, but it is evident that

386 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

he was not so well fitted for the post as Delegate
Hooper. Dr. Bernhisel was originally rather a pro-
fessional than a political character, — something of a
Mormon elder in Congress, representing a religious
people, whereas Hooper was a successful merchant,
and full of political sagacities. It is true the latter
might not have been able to have prevented the
passage of the anti-polygamic bill of 1862, but he
certainly would have rallied a host of political
friends against it. Without wasting his strength to
show the " unconstitutionality " of the bill, he
would have adopted the more practical line of argu-
ment that the bill must, from its very nature, remain
inoperative for years, thus giving, tacitly, a license
for the continuation of polygamy. This has been
abundantly recognized by members of Congress
since. That bill of 1862 has been considered by
them to be as great a nuisance as polygamy itself.
Surely Hooper would have foreshadowed the diffi-
culties of special legislation, in such a delicate ques-
tion as the marriage question of an entire commu-
nity. Moreover, in 1862 the whole responsibility
of the abolition of thousands of plural marriages
rested entirely with Congress, there having been no
primary agitation of the matter by the people of
Utah themselves. But the thirty-seventh Congress,
in its innocence, passed that bill, committing almost
as great a blunder as did Buchanan in the case of
the Utah war.

The Hon. John M. Bernhisel returned to his con-
stituents, and the Hon. John F. Kinney was
elected to succeed him. For a number of years
Judge Kinney had been Chief Justice of Utah, but

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. ^J

he had just been removed by Lincoln, it is said, for
too faithfully serving the Mormons. Be that as the
reader may please to consider, the Mormons were
grateful, and resolved that the Chief Justice should
not go from them in disgrace. They accordingly
elected him to represent them in the thirty-eighth
Congress; and so the Chief Justice, instead of re-
turning to his friends in the East, under a cloud,
went to Washington in triumph, to take his seat in
the Congress of the United States.

Judge Kinney was a brilliant man, and he soon
won golden opinions from both constituents and
strangers, by his eloquent efforts in Congress.

But he was not essentially identified with the
destiny of Utah, although a constant friend of the
people, and it became evident that the congressional
career of a gentile, representing a purely Mormon
constituency, must tend more to his political ad-
vancement than to their potency. He might have
built a pinnacle on their political destiny ; they
could build nothing on his political fame. They
had the example of Judge Douglass before them —
" the Mormon-made Senator " — who in his career
nearly reached the Presidency of the United States,
yet who recommended to Congress the expediency
of cutting the " loathsome ulcer out " — that " ulcer "
the people who, in his rise to fame, had done so
much to uplift him. In justice, however, it should
be said that Judge Kinney served his constituents
well and faithfully.

With the return of Hon. W. H. Hooper to the
thirty-ninth Congress, the prestige of home dele-
gates was restored. His influence was greater than

388 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

ever, both at home and in Washington. The very
change for a time from Mormon to Gentile had en-
hanced that influence, and illustrated the eminent
consistency of a man who was politically -in har-
mony with Congress, yet in destiny one with the
Mormon people, representing them as their dele-
gate. We are ever impressed with that law which
is described as the " eternal fitness of things ; " so
Congress could better understand and respect Wil-
liam H. Hooper maintaining the integrity of the
Mormon commonwealth; and reconciling it with the
rights of the American citizen, than it could the
representation of Utah, in those days, by a Gentile
delegate. Hooper had by far the greater influence
in Congress ; his earnestness in controversy was
respected by his congressional colleagues, even
when they were resolutely bent on an anti-Mormon
policy ; and the very fact that he was a well-known
monogamist only rendered his defence of the re-
ligious rights of his polygamic constituents more
truly American in spirit.

After the return of Mr. Hooper, and during the
thirty-ninth and fortieth Congresses, to the com-
mencement of Grant's administration, in 1869, noth-
ing very formidable was proposed or carried out
against the founders of Utah. Bills were introduced
by Mr. Ashley, then chairman of the Territorial
Committee, and others, looking to the disintegra-
tion of the Territory ; but only a passive recogni-
tion was given those measures by Congress. Gen-
tile delegations also went to Washington from
Utah urging legislation against the Mormons ; but
Congress was busy with the great question of " re-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 389

construction," and the impeachment of President
Johnson, and thus Utah, a minor question, was
overlooked.

The" passive action of Congress towards Utah,
coupled with the wholesome legislation of the John-
son period, among which was the establishment of
the present land system, warranted the hope that a
brighter day was dawning for the Territory. But,
with the commencement of Grant's administration,
a new warfare was opened, and early in the first
session under his Presidency, the Cullom Bill was
introduced in the House. Its monstrosity was such
that scarcely a section did not propose measures in
violation of the most sacred provisions of the con-
stitution. It is understood that this bill was framed
in Utah. It was very like a resttme of the Cragin
Bill ; and Senator Cragin at once adopted it as his
protege. He could well afford this, for it was . a
more perfected anti-Mormon measure than his own,
bristling with formidable points of special legisla-
tion against " Polygamic Theocracy," wherever
touched. General Cullom fathered the bill in the
House ; Senator Cragin introduced it in the Senate.
The Cullom Bill was published and reviewed by
nearly all the journals of the country. From the stand
point of newspaper criticism, it was very difficult to
tell exactly what was its moral character. There
was, however, a pretty general confession that it
was an infamous bill ; yet, with a strange consist-
ency, it was quite as candidly confessed that it was
not nearly bad enough to satisfy the popular desire.

Sargeant, Axtell and Fitch spoke against the bill.
The Hon. Thomas Fitch's speech, against the

39°

LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

iniquitous measure, was one of the most powerful
efforts of oratory that Congress has had the privi-
lege of listening to in these latter days. Not, how-
ever, from the bill itself did Mr. Fitch conjure the
effectiveness of his speech, but over the prospect of
the blood and the millions of money which it must
cost the nation to enforce its provisions. Fitch's
speech created so much sensation in the House that
General Cullom himself proposed the temporary re-
committal of the bill.

The Cullom Bill not only stirred the entire nation
to a desire for special legislation against the Mor-
mons, but also Mormondom to its very centre. Prep-
aration for the action nearly brought Delegate
Hooper to his grave. Several weeks he laid sick in
New York, his friends sometimes despairing of his
recovery ; but the tenacious spirit of the man pre-
vailed. Moreover, the magic power and will of
Brigham Young was behind him ; and the faith
of the entire Mormon people went up to heaven in
behalf of their delegate, that he might be equal to
the task of the crowning moment.

That crowning moment came. Delegate Hooper
was on the floor of the House, with his plea for
religious liberty. His great speech, delivered March
23d, 1870, justly takes rank as amongst the ablest
forensic efforts of the nineteenth century. *

* See Appendix.

CHAPTER XXIX.

mormondom aroused by the passage of the
cullom bill. great indignation of the
people. the brotherhood and sisterhood
on the eve of a constitutional revolution
or ready for martyrdom. president grant
and president brigham young moving their
forces from behind. memorial and remon-
strance to the senate of the united states.
Newman's evangelical raid.

The Cullom Bill was passed in the House on the
same day that Hooper delivered his speech. He
immediately telegraphed the fact home. Mormon-
dom was aroused in a moment. The excitement
was intense. A burning indignation against Con-
gress possessed the men and women alike, and there
was good reason for this righteous indignation, for
not only did the bill contemplate its own execution,,
in the most summary manner, by the arbitrary will
of the courts, but troops were expected to be neces-
sary to intimidate the people.

The Mormon leaders alone were cool and self-
possessed. Brigham Young was not moved from
his wonted serenity, by the prospect of the inevit-
able conflict between himself and the man who had
conquered the South, and who had already boasted

39 2

LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

that he would do as much for Mormondom. That,
indeed, was what all this noise of anti-Mormon
battle signified. It was war between these two
Titans, Ulysses S. Grant and Brigham Young. The
Cullom Bill was but a method of attack, and General
Cullom, the member from Illinois — that State which
had driven the Mormons from the " borders of civili-
zation," — was a very proper herald of President
Grant's proclamation of war against " President
Brigham Young."

Yet how like themselves, and how unlike any
other people of modern times, did the Mormons
meet the crusade against them ; notwithstanding
they saw the victorious Grant at its head, and the
various movements of the coming action com-
manded by such potent enemies as Vice-President
Colfax, Senator Cragin, General Cullom and the
ambitious chaplain of the Senate, Dr. Newman, the
Mormon people showed their peculiar examples
very nearly as strongly marked in 1870 as they were
in 1857-8.

This time Brigham Young deemed it not wise to
place himself in the foreground. He was still, how-
ever, in the soul of the action. The unalterable
purposes were his, the methods were his. He was
still the inspirer of his people, still the master
mind that directed the whole ; but he placed
his people face to face with Congress and the
nation to let them speak for themselves. He
could trust the brotherhood, and he could trust the
sisterhood, for on this occasion the women of Mor-
mondom were brought into the field of action as a
major force. Brigham Young well understood that

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. .393

the real conflict was between himself and President
Grant. These two remarkable men were both aim-
ing to pursue the best methods to master each
other ; and it is not a little interesting to study the
development of the movements of each to that end
from the onset to the present moment. In other
chapters we shall see how, step by step, General
Grant has advanced to the conquest of Brigham
Young, with as determined a spirit as he ever mani-
fested in the subjugation of the South ; and how he
has failed in his every effort, with all his instru-
ments, in bringing confusion to the modern " man
<' of destiny," and overthrowing the Mormon com-
monwealth. But come we now more immediately
to the issue of the Cullom Bill, and the remon-
strances of the entire Mormon people.

The Cullom Bill had passed the House, but it
had not yet passed the Senate. There was the bare
chance that, if the people arose en masse, and mani-
fested to the country that earnest apostolic spirit so
becoming of them r the Cullom Bill might die in the
Senate. The Gentiles of Utah, however, looked
upon this as the Mormon " forlorn hope," and de-
cided, beyond all question, that Senator Cragin
would prosecute the action through the Senate to a
successful issue, as surely as had General Cullom
done in the House.

But the Mormon people still trusted in the Lord.
At midday of the 31st of March, according to pre-
vious notice, the people began to flock en masse
towards Temple Block, to protest against the recent
action of the House, of Congress, and to petition
the Senate not to pass the Cullom Bill. At one

394 LIFE OF brigham young; or,

o'clock every seat and window of the tabernacle
was packed with spectators, the doorways were
crowded, and around the building was a vast multi-
tude that could not find entrance. Mayor D. H.
Wells was chosen to preside over the meeting.
Apostles Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Geo. Q. Cannon
and others addressed the people, after which the
following memorial to Congress was unanimously
adopted :

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives of . the United States, in Congress
Assembled :

Gentlemen : — It is with no ordinary concern
that we have learned of the passage by the House
of Representatives of the House Bill No. 1,089, en-
titled " A bill in aid of the execution of the laws
in Utah, and for other purposes," commonly known
as " The Cullom Bill," against which we desire
to enter our most earnest and unqualified protest,
and appeal against its passage by the Senate of the
United States, or beg its reconsideration by the
House of Representatives. We are sure you will
bear with us while we present for your considera-
tion some of the reasons why this bill should not
become law.

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives, of the 150,000 estimated population of
the Territory of Utah, it is well known that all ex-
cept from 5,000 to 10,000 are members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, usually
called Mormons. These are essentially the people
of this Territory ; they have settled it, reclaimed the
desert waste, cultivated it, subdued the Indians,
opened means of communication, made roads, built
cities, and brought into being a new State to add

UTAIL AND HER FOUNDERS..! 395

lustre to the national galaxy of our glorious Union.
And we, the people who have done this, are believers
in the principles of plural marriage or polygamy,
not simply as an elevating social 'relationship, and a
preventive of many terrible evils which afflict our
race, but as a principle revealed by God, underlying
our every hope of eternal salvation and happiness
in heaven. We believe in the pre-existence of the
spirits of men ; that God is the author of our being ;
that marriage is ordained as the legitimate source
by which mankind obtain an existence in this proba-
tion on the earth ; that the marriage relation exists
and extends throughout eternity, and that without
it no man can obtain an exaltation in the celestial
kingdom of God. The revelation commanding the
principle of plural marriage, given by God through
Joseph Smith, to the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, in its first paragraph has the
following language : " Behold, I reveal unto you a
" new and everlasting covenant ; and if ye abide not
" that covenant, then are ye damned ; for none can
" reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into
" my glory." With this language before us, we can-
not view plural marriage in any other light than as
a vital principle of our religion. Let the revelation
appear in the eyes of others as it may, to us it is a
divine command, of equal force with any ever given
by the Creator of the world to his children in the
_flesh.

The Bible confessedly stands in our nation as the
foundation on which all law is based. It is the
fountain from which our ideas of right and wrong
are drawn, and it gives shape and force to our
morality ; yet it sustains plural marriage, and in no
instance does it condemn that institution. Not only
having, therefore, a revelation from God making the
belief and practice of this principle obligatory upon
us, we have the warrant of the Holy Scriptures and
the example of prophets and righteous men whom

39$ LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

God loved, honored and blessed. And it should be
borne in mind that when this principle was promdl-,
gated, and the people of this Territory entered upon
its practice, it was 'not a crime. God revealed it to
us. His divine word, as contained in the Bible
which we had been taught to venerate and regard'
as holy, upheld it, and there was no law applicable
to us making our belief or practice of it criminal.
It is no crime in this Territory to-day, only as the
law of 1862, passed long years after our adoption
of this principle as a part of our religious faith/
makes it such. The law of 1862 is now a fact; one j
proscription gives strength to another. What yes- 1
terday was opinion is liable to-day to be law. It is
for this reason that we earnestly and respectfully j
remonstrate and protest against the passage of the'
bill.now before the Honorable Senate, feeling assured
that, while it cannot accomplish any possible good '
it may result in a great amount of misery.

It gives us no alternative but the cruel one of re- ;
jecting Gods command and abjuring our religion,
or disobeying the authority of a Government we J
desire to honor and respect.

It is in direct violation of the first amendment of
the constitution, which declares that " Congress shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

It robs our priesthood of their functions and I
heaven-bestowed powers, and gives them to Justices -
of the Supreme Court, Justices of the Peace, and-' 1
priests whose authority we cannot recognize, by
empowering such as the only ones to celebrate^
marriage. As well might the law prescribe who
shall baptize for the remission of sins, or lay on
hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost.

It encourages fornication and adultery, for all
such marriages would be deemed invalid and with-
out any sacred or binding force by our community,
and those thus united together would, according to

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 397

their own belief and religious convictions, be living
in a condition of habitual adultery, which would
bring the holy relation of marriage into disrepute,
and destroy the safeguards of chastity and virtue.

It is unconstitutional in that it is in direct oppo-
sition to section nine, article one, of the constitu-
tion, which provides that " no bill of attainder, or
ex post facto law shall be passed."

It destroys the right of trial by jury, providing
for the impaneling of juries composed of individuals
the recognized enemies of the accused, and of for-
eigners to the district where a case under it is to be
tried ; while the sixth amendment to the constitu-
tion provides that " in all criminal prosecutions the
accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public
trial by an impartial jury of the State and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed."

i It is contrary to the eighth amendment to the con-
stitution, which provides that' excessive fines shall
not be imposed, "nor cruel and unusual punish-
ments inflicted."

It violates section eight, article one, of the consti-
tution, which provides that Congress shall establish
a uniform rule of naturalization throughout the
United States, in that it provides, in section seven-
teen, a new, unheard of, and special rule, applicable
only to the Territory of Utah.

It is anti-republican, in that in section ten it
places men on unequal ground, by giving one por-
tion of the citizens superior privileges over others,
because of their belief.

It strips us, in sections seventeen and twenty-six,
of the land we have reclaimed from barrenness, and
which we have paid Government for ; also of
all possessory rights to w T hich we are entitled as
settlers.

It authorizes, by section fourteen, the sending of
criminals into distant military camps and prisons.

\\. is most unjust, unconstitutional, and proscrip-

398 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

tive, in that it disfranchises and proscribes American
citizens for no act, but simply believing in plurality
of wives, which the bill styles polygamy, bigamy, or
concubinage, even if they never have practiced or
designed to practice it.

It offers a premium for prostitution and corrup-
tion, in that it requires, in sections eleven and
twelve, husbands and wives to violate the holiest
vows they can make, and voluntarily bastardize their
own children.

It declares, in section twenty-one, marriage to be
a civil contract, and names the officers who alone
shall solemnize the rite, when our faith expressly
holds it as a most sacred ordinance, which can only
be administered by those holding the authority from
heaven ; thus compeling us to discriminate in favor
of officers appointed by the Government and
against officers authorized by the Almighty.

It thus takes away the right of conscience, and
deprives us of an ordinance upon the correct ad-
ministration of which our. happiness and eternal
salvation depend.

It not only subverts religious liberty, but, in sec-
tions sixteen and nineteen, violates every principle
of civil liberty and true republicanism, in that it
bestows upon the Governor the sole authority to
govern jails and prisons, and to remove their ward-
ens and keepers ; to appoint and remove Probate
Judges, Justices of the Peace, Judges of all elec-
tions, Notaries Public and all sheriffs ; clothine one
man with despotic and, in this Republic, unheard-of
power.

It thus deprives the people of all voice in the
Government of the Territory, reduces them to ab-
solute vassalage, creates a dangerous, irresponsible
and centralized despotism, from which there is no
appeal, and leaves their lives, liberties and human
rights subject to the caprice of one man, and that
man selected arid sent here from afar.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 399

It proposes, in sections eleven, twelve and seven-
teen, to punish American citizens, not for wrongs,
but for acts sanctioned by God, and practiced by
his most favored servants, requiring them to call
those bad men whom God chose for his oracles
and delighted to honor, and even to cast reflections
on the ancestry of the Saviour himself.

It strikes at the foundation of all Republican
Government, in that it dictates opinions and belief,
prescribes what shall and shall not be believed
by citizens, and assumes to decide on the validity
of revelation from Almighty God, the author of
existence.

It disorganizes and reduces to a chaotic condition
every precinct, city and county in the Territory of
Utah, and substitutes no adequate organization. It
subverts, by summary process, nearly every law on
our statute-book.

It violates the faith of the United States, in that
it breaks the original compact made with the people
of this Territory in the organic act, who were, at
the time that compact was made, received as citizens
from Mexican Territory, and known to be believers
in the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.

We also wish your honorable bodies to under-
stand that the Legislature of this Territory has
never passed any law affecting the primary disposal
of the soil, but only adopted regulations for the
controling of our claims and possessions, upon
which improvements to the amount of millions of
dollars have been made.

This bill, in section 36, repeals the law of the
Territory containing said regulations, thereby leav-
ing us destitute of legal protection to our hard-
earned possessions, the accumulated labor of over
twenty years, and exposing us to the mercy of land
speculators and vampires.

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Repre-

400 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

sentatives this bill which would deprive us of reli-
gious liberty and every political right worth having,
is not directed against the people of Utah as
men and women, but against their holy religion.
Eighteen years ago, and ten years before the passage
of this Anti-Polygamy Act of 1862, one of our
leading men, Elder Orson Pratt, was expressly de-
puted and sent to the city of Washington, D. C, to
publish and lecture on the principle of patriarchal
or plural marriage as practiced by us.

He lectured frequently in that and other cities,
and published a paper for some length of time, in
which he established, by elaborate and convincing
arguments,, the divinity of the revelation command-
ing plural marriage, given through the prophet,
Joseph Smith, and that the doctrine was sanctioned
and endorsed by the highest Biblical authority. For
ten years before the passage of the Act of 1862 this
doctrine was widely preached throughout the Union
and the world, and it was universally known and re-
cognized as a principle of our holy faith. We are
thus explicit in mentioning this fact to show that
patriarchal marriage has long been understood to
be a cardinal principle of our religion. We would
respectfully mention, also in this connection, that
while hundreds of our leading elders have been in
the Eastern States and in the city of Washington,
not one of them has been cited to appear as a wit-
ness before the Committee on Territories, to prove
that this doctrine is a part of our religion ; gentle-
men well knowing that if that were established, the
law would be null and void, because of its uncon-
stitutionality.

What we have done to enhance the greatness and
glory of our country by pioneering, opening up, and
making inhabitable the vast western region, is before
the nation, and should receive a nation's thanks, not
a proscriptive edict to rob us of every right worth
possessing, and of the very soil we have reclaimed

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 4OI

and then purchased from the Government. Before
this soil was United States Territory we settled it,
and five hundred of our best men responded to the
call of the Government in the war with Mexico, and
assisted in adding it to our national domain. When
we were received into the Union our religion was
known ; our early officers, including our first Gov-
ernor, were nearly all Latter-day Saints or " Mor-
mons," for there were few others to elect from ; we
were treated as citizens possessing equal rights, and
the original bond of agreement between the United
States Government and the people inhabiting this
Territory, conferred upon us the right of self-gov-
ernment in the same degree as is "enjoyed by any
other Territory in the Union.

It is declared that the power of the Legislature
of this Territory " shall extend to all rightful sub-
jects of legislation, consistent with the constitution
of the United States and the provisions of the
Organic Act ; and the right of suffrage and holding
office shall be exercised by citizens of the United
States," including those recognized as citizens by
the treaty with the Republic of Mexico, concluded
February 2d, 1848. This compact or agreement we
have preserved inviolate on our part, and we respect-
fully submit that it is not in the power of any legis-
lature or congress, legally and constitutionally, to
abrogate and annul such an agreement as the
organic law, which this bill proposes to do, without
the consent of both parties. Our property, lands,
and buildings, private and public, are to be confis-
cated ; our rights of citizenship destroyed ; our men
and women subjected to excessive pains and penal-
ties, because we believe in and practice a principle
taught by the Bible, commanded by divine revela-
tion to us, and sustained by the christian monarchies
of Great Britain and France among millions of their
subjects in their territories of India and Algeria.

We earnestly, we solemnly appeal co you not to

4-02 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ] OR,

permit this iniquitous, unjustly discriminating, and
anti-republican measure to become law, and that,
too, in violation of the constitution, by which one
hundred and fifty thousand industrious, peaceable,
and orderly persons will be driven to the desperate
necessity of disobeying Almighty God, the governor
of the universe, or of subjecting themselves to the
pains and penalties of this Act, which would be
worse than death.

We beseech of you, gentlemen, do not, by the
passage of harsh and despotic measures, drive an
inoffensive, God-fearing, and loyal people to des-
peration.

We have suffered, God knows how much, in years
past, for our religion. . We fled to the mountain
wilds to escape the ruthless hand of persecution ;
and shall it be said now that our Government,
which ought to foster and protect us, designs to
repeat, in the most aggravated form, the miseries
we have been called upon to pass through before.

What evidence can we give you that plural mar-
riage is a part of our religion, other than what we
have done by our public teaching and publishing
for years past ? If your honorable bodies are not
satisfied with what we now present, and what we
have previously published to the world, we beseech
you, in the name of our common country and those
sacred principles bequeathed unto us by our revolu-
tionary fathers, in the name of humanity, and in the
name of Almighty God, before making this act a
law, to send to this Territory a commission clothed
with the necessary authority to take evidence and
make a thorough and exhaustive investigation into
the subject, and obtain evidence concerning the be-
lief and workings of our religious system, from its
friends, instead of its enemies.

This memorial, which was duly signed and at-
tested, along with a set of resolutions more dis-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 403

tinctly emphasizing the sentiment of the people
upon some of its cardinal points, was promptly for-
warded to Washington.

Just previous to this a series of mass-meetings
had been held throughout the Territory, by the
Mormon women, at which was affirmed, with great
earnestness, their belief in, and determination to
maintain, the institutions of the Church.

The puritan aspect of those meetings would have
been a rare treat to any historical spectator. They
would have reminded him of the times when the
God-fearing men of' England defended their reli-
gious and political rights under such leaders as
Cromwell, Hampden, Sir John Elliot and Sir Harry
Vane, and were inspired by the republican pen of
the divine Milton ; nor would he have forgotten
that one of Milton's most powerful writings is his
defence of polygamous marriages, based upon the
Hebrew covenants and examples.

This united action of the brotherhood and sister-
hood created a sentiment which finally culminated
in the overthrow of the Cullom Bill.

In the meantime Dr. Newman had been blowing
his bubble on Mormon polygamy. The great
speech of Delegate Hooper on the Cullom Bill
had embodied, for the edification of Congress, quite
an elaborate- biblical review and defence of the
11 peculiar institution." This provoked the evan-
gelical ire of the chaplain of the Senate, and in
turn he discoursed eloquently on the subject of Mor-

404 LIFE OF BRI6HAM YOUNG J OR,

mon polygamy, to the admiration of his aristocratic
constituency of the Metropolitan church.

The Saints in Zion were much amused at the
scene in Washington,- and decidedly pleased that
their institutions should at length be theologically
glorified in " high places." Like Napoleon the
Great, they think that " noise is better than monu-
1 ments." Dr. Newman was making noise for them
on polygamy. So with mischievous tact Mr. Ed-
ward Sloan, acting editor of the Salt Lake Daily
Telegraph, suggested that the chaplain of the
Senate should discuss the subject in the Mormon
tabernacle, it being out of place in Washington.
The Dr. affected to regard this as a challenge from
Brigham Young. It was a crowning opportunity.
To discuss polygamy with the man who had made
so much noise in the age — discuss it, too, in the
tabernacle before ten thousand Mormons, was to
trumpet his own name into an extraordinary
notoriety !

Newman " accepted the challenge," and publicly
announced his purpose of visiting Utah to discuss
with Brigham Young the sensational subject of
polygamy. On their side the apostles humored the
delusion of the reverend champion, and though the
challenge was a transparent hoax, they were quite
ready to give the chaplain of the Senate a taste of
their apostolic steel. In the event of the polygamic
tournament, Orson Pratt was universally chosen by
the Mormons as their champion. Soon the Paul
of Mormondom and General Grants pastor were
engaged in a preliminary encounter through the
columns of the New York Herald.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 405.

The coming discussion in Zion created a "great
noise." In some sort of sense it was a national
event. There was just that novelty in it too that
the public taste so dearly relishes. The American
people were prepared for a treat, and the Dr. was
duly "billed," and "illustrated" for the occasion.
However, to the last moment of his leaving Wash-
ington, he affected to believe that he was going up
to the stronghold of Mormondom to discuss with
Brigham Young.

Dr. Newman's expectation of a personal dis-
cussion with Brigham Young was as absurd as it
was presumptuous. As well might that mediocre
priest have journeyed to Rome in the expectation
of discussing Catholicism with the Pope.

Early in August, 1870, Newman made his advent
in Salt Lake City, accompanied by the Rev. Dr.
Sunderland, and immediately opened correspond-
ence with Brigham Young. Much to the Rev
Newman's discomfiture, he found that President
Young disclaimed the challenge. A lengthy corres..
pondence then ensued ; Dr. Newman persistently
endeavoring to bring President Young into the
arena, but he as persistently referring him to some
one of the apostles ; the result being that the Rev.
ambassador finally condescended to measure swords
with Apostle Orson Pratt.

The grand discussion duly came off in the great
tabernacle in the presence of thousands. Each
day's apostolic fight was glorified with a verbatim
report in the New York Herald, and every leading
paper in the country devoted its columns to a daily
synopsis of the arguments. Never before, in the-

406 LIFE OF BKIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

whole christian era, had polygamy been so elabo-
rately and ably discussed between two divines, and
certainly never was a religious debate so extensively
published and read. Millions of readers followed
the arguments of Dr. Newman and Orson Pratt
and it is safe to estimate that quite two-thirds of
them yielded the palm to the Mormon apostle.

It may have been that Dr. Newman was conscious
of his defeat, or at least sensible of public opinion,
for the judicial crusade which immediately followed
under Judge McKean, against Brigham Young and
polygamic theocracy, appeared very much like New-
man's revenge. Grant stood by McKean in the
very face of the Supreme Court, and Newman stood
by and counseled Grant. Indeed, it is only simple
justice to McKean to hold that the President of the
United States and his pastor were largely responsi-
ble for the outrageous judicial proceedings recorded
in the following chapter.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE MKEAN REGIME. HISTORY OF THE PROTRACTED
EFFORTS TO JUDICIALLY MURDER THE FOUNDERS
OF UTAH. THE CONSPIRACY DEFEATED. JUSTICE
TRIUMPHANT. m'kEAN REMOVED.

We now come to a period in the life of Brigham
Young, which betrays most clearly the overruling
hand of Providence. The manner in which he was
enabled to confound his enemies and triumph over
a most wicked perversion of the United States' laws
1 and vanquish a band of conspirators against the
peace and happiness of the Mormon people, as
shown in the following record, cannot be regarded
as other than providential.

The events to which allusion is made occurred
during the years 1870-1-2-3-4, and in the Spring
of 1875, finally culminating in the removal of Chief
Justice McKean from an office which he had dis-
graced and abused in a manner to which the world
can furnish no parallel. Appointed through the
Jesuitical influence of the Methodist Church, and
sustained by the combined bigotry of the land, his
downfall only came through the sheer recklessness
of his despotic and brutal career.

A careful search of the records will reveal how,
through such instrumentalities as those of packed

408 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

grand and petit juries, a corrupt judge, a pretended
United States district attorney, appointed by that
judge, and the State's evidence of an atrocious mur-
derer, who purchased his own immunity from justice
by his perjury, it was intended to consummate the
judicial murder of Brigham Young, Mayor Wells of
Salt Lake City, Hosea Stout, Joseph A. Young and
other leading Mormons, on charges the most absurd
and untrue.

Chief Justice McKean and his co-conspirators
had their plans apparently well laid, but " man
proposes, God disposes." Chief Justice Chase and
his associates, inspired by the God of justice,
stepped in at the last moment, overwhelmed the
enemies of the Mormons, and scattered to the winds
their unrighteous machinations. Before we present
the proofs, however, from the records of this most
remarkable providential interposition to arrest the
hands of those would-be judicial murderers, we will
give an analysis of the laws bearing upon the case,
as expounded by the Supreme Court of the United
States.

In the case of Dred Scott, Chief Justice Taney
said :

" But the power of Congress over the person or
property of a citizen (in a Territory) can never be
a mere discretionary power under our constitution
and form of government. The powers of the Gov-
ernment and the rights and privileges of the citizen
are regulated and plainly defined by the constitution
itself. And when the Territory becomes a part of
the United States, the Federal Government enters
into possession in the character impressed upon it
by those who created it. It enters upon it with its

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 409

powers over the citizen clearly defined, and limited
by the constitution, from which it derives its own
existence, and by virtue of which alone it continues
to exist and act as a government and sovereignty.
It has no power of any kind beyond it ; and it can-
not, when it enters a Territory of the United States,
put off its character and assume discretionary or
despotic powers which the constitution has denied
to it. It cannot create for itself a new character
separated from the citizens of the United States,
and the duties it owes them under the provisions of
the constitution. The Territory being a part of the
United States, the government and the citizen both
enter it under the authority of the constitution, with
their respective rights defined and marked out ; and
the Federal Government can ..exercise no power
over his person or property, beyond what that in-
strument confers, nor lawfully deny any right which
it has reserved."

A reference to a few of the provisions of the con-
stitution will illustrate this proposition. #

For example, no one, we presume, will contend
that Congress can make any law for a Territory,
respecting the establishment of religion or the free
exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech
or of the press, or the right of the people of the
Territory peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for the redress of grievances. Nor can
Congress deny to the people the right to keep and
bear arms, nor the right to trial by jury, nor compel
any one to be a witness against himself in a crim-
inal proceeding.

These powers and others in relation to rights of
person, which it is not necessary here to enumerate,
are, in express and positive terms, denied to the

4IO LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

General Government ; and the rights of private
property have been guarded with equal care. Thus
the rights of property are united with the rights of
person, and placed on the same ground, by the fifth
amendment of the constitution, which provides that
no person shall be deprived of life, liberty and
property, without due process of law. And an Act
of Congress which deprives a citizen of the United
States of his liberty or property, merely because he
came himself, or brought his property, into a par-
ticular Territory of the United States, and who had
committed no offence against the laws, could hardly
be dignified with the name of " due process of law."

So, too, it will hardly be contended that Con-
gress could by law quarter a soldier in a house in a
Territory without the consent of the owner, in time
of peace ; nor in time of war, except in a manner
prescribed by law. Nor could they by law forfeit
the property of a citizen, in a Territory, who was
convicted of treason, for a longer period than the
life of the person convicted ; nor take private prop-
erty for public use without just compensation.

The powers over person and property of which
we speak are not only not granted to Congress, but
are in express terms denied, and Congress is forbid-
den to exercise them. And this prohibition is not
confined to the States, but the words are general,
and extend to the whole territory over which the
constitution gives power to legislate, including
those portions of it remaining under Territorial
government, as well as that covered by State gov-
ernment. It places the citizens of a Territory, so
far as these rights are concerned, on the same footing

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 41 I

with citizens of the States, and guards them as
firmly and plainly against any inroads which the
General Government might attempt, under the plea
of implied or incidental powers. And if Congress
itself cannot do this — if it is beyond the powers
conferred on the Federal Government — it will be
admitted, we presume, that it could not authorize
a Territorial government to exercise them. It
could confer no power on any local government
established by its authority, to violate the provisions
of the constitution.

Now let us see what Chief Justice Chase said in
the Englebrecht decision :

The theory upon which the various govern-
ments for portions of the Territory of the United
States have been organized has ever been that of
leaving to the inhabitants all the powers of self-
government consistent with the supremacy and
supervision of national authority, and with certain
fundamental principles established by Congress. As
early as 1784 an ordinance was adopted by the
Congress of the Confederation, providing for the
division of all the territory ceded, or to be ceded,
into States, with boundaries ascertained by the
ordinance. These States were severally authorized
to adopt for their temporary government the con-
stitution and laws of any one of the States, and
provision was made for their ultimate admission, by
delegates, into the Congress of the United States.
We thus find that the first plan for the establish-
ment of governments in the Territories authorized
the adoption of State governments from the start,
and committed all matters of internal legislation
to the discretion of the inhabitants, unrestricted
otherwise than by the State constitution originally
adopted by them.

412 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

This ordinance, applying to all Territories ceded
or to be ceded, was superseded three years later by
the ordinance of 1787, restricted in its application
to the Territory north-west of the river Ohio — the
only Territory which had been actually ceded to
the United States.

It provided for the appointment of the Governor
and three judges of the court, who were authorized
to adopt, for the temporary government of the dis-
trict, such laws of the original States as might be
adapted to its circumstances. But as soon as the
number of adult male inhabitants should amount to
five thousand, they were authorized to elect repre-
sentatives, who were required to nominate ten per-
sons from whom Congress should elect five to con-
stitute a legislative council ; and the House and
Council thus selected and appointed were thence-
forth to constitute the Legislature of the Territory,
which was authorized to elect a delegate to Con-
gress, with the right of debating, but not of voting.
This Legislature, subject to the negative of the
Governor, and certain fundamental principles and
provisions embodied in articles of compact, was
clothed with the full power of legislation for the
Territory.

In all the Territories full power was given to the
Legislature over all ordinary subjects of legislation.
The terms in which it was granted were various,
but the import was the same in all.

The doctrine, in the early days of this govern-
ment, was that the people who scattered themselves
over the Territories, who encountered the Indians,
and who built up towns, cities and villages in the
Territories of the United States, and erected rail-
roads and telegraphs, should be a State ad interim.

This same doctrine was adopted by Congress in
1850; when General Cass in the great discussion

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. • 413

on the compromise bill, — when for the first time in
the history of our Government, Calhoun and his
pro-slavery friends, ^for the purpose of extending
slavery into Territories then free, assumed and
declared that Congress could interfere with the
domestic relations in Territories, — replied : " During
" the pendency of the Territorial Government they
" should be allowed to manage their own concerns
" in their own way. Does not slavery come within
" this category ? Is it not a domestic concern ? Is
" not that the doctrine of the South — of common
" sense indeed ? No Territorial Government was
" ever established which had not power to regulate
" the domestic relations of husband and wife, of
" parent and child, of guardian and ward ; and if
" the inhabitants are competent to manage these
" great interests, and indeed the interests belonging
*' to all the departments of society, including the
" issues of life and death, are they not competent to
" manage the relation of master and servant, involv-
11 ing the condition of slavery?"

A prominent journal, in discussing the point, said :
" To us it appears that, from the earliest times, the
" policy has been to leave all matters of internal
" legislation to the Legislative Assembly, as soon as
<* there was one, in a Territory of the United States.
<* The only deviation to be found from this rule was
" when the agitation about slavery prompted at-
11 tempts at exceptional provisions for or against it.
"It was at the very time that Utah was erected
" into a Territory that adverse pretensions on the
" subject of slavery in the Territories received a
" quietus, in the measures of 1850, advocated by

414, LIFE 0F BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

' Clay, Webster, Douglass, Cass and other eminent
' Statesmen. They framed and advocated the
1 several Acts, among them the Act organizing
1 Utah, by which, without proscribing slavery or
' protecting slavery, the matter was left to the
1 people of the Territory, like all other local sub-
' jects, and with the best results. Slavery never
' was introduced into either New Mexico or Utah,
1 both organized on the same principle of leaving
' all domestic institutions to the local law. General
1 Cass, in the debate on the subject, gave its true
' history, as above quoted. And as to the entire
' power of the several Territorial Legislatures —
' subject to revision by Congress — to manage all
1 their domestic matters, in their own way, Chief
1 Justice Campbell, of Michigan, one of the very
' ablest, purest and most learned judges on the
' bench of this Union, in 21 Michigan, page 75, in
1 the case of Crane vs. Reeder, says :

Immediately after the Government of the United
States was organized under the constitution, a brief
Statute was passed to adapt the ordinance of the
constitution, not to change its nature, but as stated in
the preamble, in order that it " may continue to
have full effect." And so long as the system should
continue, the whole legal regulation was clearly
relegated to the Territory, as it was afterwards to
Michigan when separately organized.

Then, under the old common law notions, the
creation of such a government would be at least an
equivalent to the erection of a Country Palatine,
and would transfer all necessary sovereign preroga-
tives. But under this ordinance the Territory not
only differed from a State in holding derivative in-
stead of independent functions, but in being subject

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 415

to such changes as Congress might adopt. But,
until revoked or annulled, an Act of the Territory
was just as obligatory as an Act of Congress, and
for the same reasons.

Congress, in 1850, acting on this theory of the
entire separation of all the duties and acts of the
United States officers in Utah from those of the
territorial officers thereof, in enacting the organic
act for Utah, had provided by sec. 10, as follows :

There shall be appointed for the District of Utah
a United States District Attorney, who shall con-
tinue in office four years unless sooner removed by
the President ; and who shall receive the same pay
and emoluments as the attorney of the U. S. for
Oregon ; and there shall also be appointed a United
States Marshal for the Territory of Utah, who shall
execute all processes issuing from said Courts, when
exercising their jurisdiction as Circuit and District
Courts of the United States. He shall perform the
same duties and be subject to the same pay as the
Marshal of the present Territory of Oregon.

The duties of the United States District Attor-
ney for Utah are thus defined by the Act of Con-
gress of September 24, 18 19, sec. 35, vol. 1, U. S. at
large :

There shall be appointed in each district a person
learned in the law to act as the attorney of the
U. S. in such district, who shall be sworn, &c. ;
and whose duty it shall be to prosecute in such
district all delinquents for crimes or offences
cognizable under the authority of the United
States, and all civil actions in which the United
States shall be concerned, except in the Supreme'
Court.

4-l6 LIFE OF 13RIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

And by the 2d sec. of the same act, the duty of
United States marshals are thus defined :

It shall be their duty to attend the District and
Circuit Courts, when sitting, and to execute,
throughout their districts, all lawful processes di-
rected to them, and issued under the authority of
the United States.

By the same organic law of Utah it was provided
" that the first six days of every term of the Terri-
" torial District Court, or so much thereof as shall
" be necessary, shall be appropriated to the trial of
" clauses under the law of the United States ; " and
during those six, or any other days, when the
courts were engaged in enforcing the laws of the
United States, the U. S. Marshal and District At-
torney performed precisely the same duties as the
same officers would do in the Federal Courts, in the
States of the Union.

The Territorial Legislature, to enforce territorial
laws, had, on March 3d, 1852, provided by statute
for the election of a Territorial marshal and attor-
ney-general, by a joint vote of both branches of
the legislative council, by which all the duties of
attorney-general were thus defined. " To attend to
" all legal business on the part of the Territory
" before the Courts, where the Territory is a party,
" and prosecute Indians accused of crimes, in the
" district in which he keeps his office, under the laws
" of the Territory of Utah." And the duties of
territorial marshal. were declared to be " to execute
" all orders and processes of the Supreme and Dis-
" trict Courts of the Territory, in all cases arising
" under the laws of the Territory."

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 417

This latter statute had been affirmed by Con-
gress, for over 22 years, by its tacit approval
thereof — and so had become, to all intents, the
law of Congress itself.

It will thus be seen that, by the Acts of Congress,
the duties of U. S. Dist. Attorney and marshal for
Utah were precisely the same as those in all the
States of the Union, while the offices of Terri-
torial attorney-general and marshal were the same
as those of attorney-general and sheriff of the
several States.

Under this state of things the conspirators
deemed it necessary at the outset to get rid of the
Territorial marshal and Attorney-General, and vest
their duties in the United States Marshal and Dis-
trict Attorney. They also wished to nullify the
statutes of Utah, providing for the drawing and
impaneling of grand and petit jurors, as they could
not otherwise use the courts as instrumentalities for
the destruction of the Mormons.

The first move in this direction was made in
1870, in the proceedings of Chas. H. Hempstead,
U. S. District Attorney, against Zerubbabel Snow }
Attorney-General of Utah, the result of which was
that Snow was removed from office, and his duties
devolved upon Hempstead, in violation both of the
laws of Utah and of the United States.

At the same time a similar course was taken by
Hempstead against the Territorial marshal, John
D. T. McAllister, which ultimated in the removal
of that officer and the assumption of his duties by
J. M. Orr, U. S. Marshal.

So long as these absurd decisions remained un-

41 8 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

reversed by that of the Supreme Court of the
United States, which, in the case of Snow vs.
Hempstead, was finally done in October, 1873, the
governmental machinery of Utah was held in the
hands of the United States judicial officers, who
made use of their power to vex and punish the
Mormons for pretended offences.

This was done by means of packed juries, per-
jured witnesses, and prosecutions conducted by
men who were alike ignorant and regardless of law.
During the period embracing the years 1870 to
1873, until the United States Supreme Court over-
ruled McKean, and decided that it was " Snow's
" duty to prosecute all those persons charged with
" crimes against the statutes of Utah, and McAllis-
" ter's duty to draw and impanel all grand and petit
"jurors," the United States had expended in this
direction over $30,000, and President Young and
some sixty to eighty of his people had been illegally
indicted for alleged crimes of every name and
nature, had suffered many months of false im-
prisonment at Camp Douglas and in the jails of
Salt Lake City and County, and had paid to attor-
neys and witnesses many thousands of dollars.

The second step on the part of the conspirators
was a process entirely ignoring and blotting out
the Statutes of Utah in regard to procuring grand
and petit juries for district courts, and enabling
Marshal Patrick to select as such jurors any persons
whom he might choose, the selection in every case
being made, of course, from the most bitter and
malignant enemies of the Mormon people.

Pendente lite, Hempstead resigned the office of

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 419

U. S. District Attorney, and Justice McKean ap-
pointed R. N. Baskin to succeed him in an office
which no one has any right to fill unless nominated
by the President, and confirmed by the Senate of
the United States. It was not until November,
1 87 1, that the lawful successor of Hempstead was
appointed by Grant. At this juncture of affairs a
collision between the judicial authorities of Utah
and the Mormon people seemed inevitable. Great
alarm existed all over the United States as well as
in Utah. But these gross perversions of law, and
Justice McKean's wild and extraordinary charge to
the packed grand jury, aroused the public mind ;
and the Administration at Washington was spurred
to action.

Meantime, the illegally-appointed U. S. Attorney,
Baskin, had drawn and signed various indictments,
which were presented and filed in court by the
illegal grand jury, and a very large number of lead-
ing Mormons and officers, including the Mayor of
Salt Lake City, were arrested and placed in close
confinement at Camp Douglas under a military
guard commanded by Lieut.-Col. Henry Morrow.
This officer had superseded his predecessor, Col.
De Trobriand, through the influence of McKean
and Doctor Newman, simply because the Colonel
had refused to consent to fire upon the Mormon
people on the 4th of July, if ordered to do so by
the Secretary of the Territory of Utah.

" Bill" Hickman, who had been cut off from the
Mormon Church for his crimes, was one of the per-
sons so indicted, and being promised immunity if
he would turn State's evidence and swear against

420 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

President Young and his people, confessed to the

new District Attorney that he had murdered

eighteen persons in cold blood. His confinement,

however, was merely nominal.

During the Fall of 1871, President Young being

in very poor health, went to St. George, in Southern

Utah, to spend the winter. Here he was safe from

the hands of the assassins, and also beyond the

reach of the United States officers at Salt Lake

>

who were now eager and ready to consign him,
through form of law, to the gallows, whether inno-
cent or guilty.

All seemed now ready for the sacrifice, and the
conspirators, having full control of the Courts,
trampled under foot the Territorial statutes, and
claimed to be governed in these prosecutions by the
laws of Congress ; and there was no appeal, in crim-
inal cases, from their final judgments.

The guilt of the Mormon prisoners had been pre-
determined, a bitter and unscrupulous press had
promulgated its verdict against them, and McKean's
judgments were often pre-announced through its
columns ere they were filed in court. Attorney
General Ackerman was grossly ignorant of all these
movements, while Grant had shut his eyes arid ears
to Utah. In January, 1872, in the Ebbett House,
in Washington, Judge McKean avowed his prin-
ciples to Judge Louis Dent, brother-in-law of the
President, in these precise words :

"Judge Dent, the mission which God has called
" upon me to perform in Utah, is as much above
" the duties of other courts and judges as the
" heavens are above the earth, and whenever or

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 42 I

" wherever I may find the Local or Federal laws
" obstructing or interfering therewith, by God's bles-
" sing I shall trample them under my feet."

The conspirators were now ready to consummate
their plans. To bring Brigham Young back from
St. George, and before a packed petit jury, with
paid witnesses upon the stand, it would be an easy
matter to secure a verdict of "guilty of murder,"
and sentence of death was assured. Thus in a single
execution was it designed to overthrow President
Young, Mayor Wells, and all the other leaders of
the Mormon people.

But about this time, November 1871, the Presi-
dent and his cabinet became at last alarmed at the
aspect of affairs in Utah. Fears arose that Brigham
Young and his 140,000 people might be goaded to
madness by these illegal acts, and by force of arms
resist their consummation. At the urgent request
of General Benjamin H. Bristow, and by the advice
of Senator Trumbull, Judges David Davis and
Drummond and Blodgett of Illinois, a United States
District Attorney, Geo. C. Bates, Esq., was appointed
to succeed the conspirators' attorney, Baskin, and
ordered to proceed to Salt Lake and assume the
duties of his office with all possible dispatch.

On the 29th of November, 1 871, he arrived there,
took the oath of office, and immediately entered
upon his duties with this declaration :

" As far as my official prerogative extends, I will
" so administer the law, as that all men, irrespective
" of caste, color, condition, sect or religion, shall be
" protected by its power, and that equal and exact
"justice shall be meted out to Christian, Jew, Mor-
11 mon and Gentile alike."

422 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

This new United States District Attorney at
once saw that all the criminal proceedings thus far
taken by McKean and his coadjutors, were abso-
lutely null and void, and that all the Mormons now
in confinement were imprisoned without any author-
ity of law ; and he at once determined to stop all
further proceedings in the Court until a deci-
sion could be obtained on these grave questions,
either from Congress or the Supreme Court of the
United States. He saw, on a careful examination,
that, there were no legal indictments against the
parties in prison, no legal petit jury in court to try
them, but a body of men packed and selected for
their bitter and avowed hatred of the Mormons and
their President. He found also that there was not
a single dollar in the hands of the United States
Marshal to pay jurors or witnesses' fees, or any
other expenses of the Court ; and, further, that the
United States Comptroller at Washington had not
recognized Baskin as United States District At-
torney for Utah, and had positively refused to pay
one cent for expenses incurred in any cases where
the Territorial laws had been violated. On the
other hand, the Territorial authorities being fully
aware of the gross violations of the law by McKean
and his coadjutors, would not pay one dollar to
these Federal usurpers.

A debt of over $30,000 for some one to pay had
been created by these criminal prosecutions, which,
they being null and void, was worthless.

Thus the U. S. District Attorney found himself
placed in a delicate and trying position, for it was
evident that as soon as McKean should find his

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 423

proceedings set aside as illegal, he, and Newman*
who was almost omnipotent at Washington, would
seek his removal ; but with a strict sense of justice,
he proved himself equal to the emergency. He
placed himself at once in constant communication
with Solicitor-General Bristow, then acting Attor-
ney-General at Washington — one of the ablest and
purest men who has occupied that position for
many years. The next step in the programme was
to gain time. To this end he continued all criminal
cases on McKeans calendar at Salt Lake to as late
a date as possible, fixing the time for the case of
the U. S. vs. Brigham Young and other Mormon
leaders, for the pretended murder of one Yates, on
January 12th, 1872.

At this time was manifested another striking
revelation of the towering genius of Brigham
Young. It was midwinter ; he was in poor health ;
a journey of 350 miles must be made through sleet
and storm, to answer the outrageous summons of
McKeans court, to appear for trial at Salt Lake
City. It seemed as simple a matter as it was just
for President Young to answer that he would not
heed the summons — at least not until Spring.

Moreover, he was surrounded by his faithful
councilors, every one of whom earnestly entreated
him to disregard the mandate of the court ; and
ten thousand brave men, every one of whom would
have died for him, were near.

" No," said he, " it is right to go ; the Lord says
" go ; it will take their weapons from their hands."
And in the dead of winter he journeyed those 350
miles to face the officers of the district court, and

424 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

proclaim his willingness to be tried, even on their
illegal process.

Arrived at Salt Lake City, he promptly surren-
dered himself. His attorney, acting on McKeans
decision that the crime charged in the indictment
was an offence against the statutes and sovereignty
of the United States, moved the Court under the
laws of the United States, that it should admit
Brigham Young to bail in the sum of $500,000; but,
although there were Gentiles then in Court who
offered to sign his bail bond and qualify, the motion
was overruled, and President Young was ordered into
close custody of a United States marshal. He was
confined in his own house and forced to pay the
marshal for his guardianship, ten dollars per day.
This confinement continued for one hundred and
twenty days, three weeks of which was after the
Supreme Court of the United States had unani-
mously decided in the case of Englebrecht, already
cited, that the grand jury who found the indictment
was an illegal body, drawn and impaneled in de-
fiance of all law — making the imprisonment of
these leaders a crime.

Mr. Bates next procured a still further continu-
ance of all public business upon the calendar, from
January 12 to March 12, 1872, and, having obtained
permission, proceeded at once to Washington,
where he issued a printed circular, addressed to
Congress, at the same time orally addressing the
Territorial and judiciary committees of both Houses,
and thus thrice furnished the representatives of the
nation with an accurate narrative of the matters
pending in the courts of Utah. He entreated them

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. ,42,5

to arrest all further prceedings, or else to appro-
priate sufficient money to pay all witnesses, jurors,
and the court's expenses, so that pending cases
could be tried and ended forever. But in vain did
he plead the injustice of the false imprisonment of
the Mormon leaders. Congress would not appro-
priate money for either past or future expenses in
the prosecution of these pretended offences against
the Territorial laws of Utah, and would make no
order dismissing the cases now pending in McKean's
court. Then Mr. Bates applied to Attorney-Gen.
Williams to move forward on the calendar of the
Supreme Court of the United States the case of
Englebrecht vs. Jeter, Clinton et al, pending on
appeal, to have the same argued and clecided at once,
and thereby the law as to these proceedings would
be settled forever. After many weeks' delay, and
only after a near relative of President Grant had
been retained and paid a large fee as counsel, did
Attorney-General Williams move the Court, when
the case of Englebrecht was advanced upon the
calendar of the United States Supreme Court, and
in April, 1872, the decision which we have before
cited was made ; and in that decision the Court de-
cided as the District Attorney had predicted they
would, viz. : " that the grand and petit juries sum-
" moned by McKean were both drawn in violation
" of law ; that they could only be drawn under the
" statutes of Utah, even in cases where the United
" States laws had been violated ; that McAllister,
" Territorial marshal, de facto, could alone serve the
" venire, no matter whether he was legally in office
" or not ; that United States Marshal Patrick had

426

LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

" no authority to serve the venire, or in any manner
" to intermeddle with the manner of drawing jurors,
" and, as a legal consequence, all the indictment's
" now pending in the courts of Utah were null and
" void ; that Brigham Young and his Mormon
" brethren must be discharged from confinement,
V and the records of this judicial conspiracy ex-
" punged."

McKean had, in the meantime, followed Bates to
Washington, and had entered upon the more con-
genial duties of a lobbyist, besetting the committees
and members of Congress to appropriate the na-
tion's money to enable him to continue his unlawful
and iniquitous crusade against Brigham Young and
the Mormon people. He sat in court and heard
the reading of this unanimous and able opinion, and
listened to it in blank amazement, while all his de-
crees, judgments and sentences were expunged and
emasculated ; and his victims, just now under
the shadow of the gallows, were to be set free for-
ever.

Although this decision was immediately tele-
graphed to Marshal Patrick at Salt Lake, with
orders to release and discharge all the prisoners in
custody or under bail, yet Judge Hawley, being in
sympathy with McKean, and the acting District At-
torney, in collusion with Governor Wood, disregarded
the orders of the Attorney-General at Washington ;
and the Mormon prisoners were kept imprisoned
for three weeks longer until a certified copy of the
decision of the Supreme Court could be obtained
and filed in McKean's court. Thus ended the first
act in this judicial conspiracy, to the utter confusion
and disgrace of the conspirators.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 427

From the time of this decision, down to the close
of Congress in 1872, McKean, as lobbyist, sought
to have Congress pass a bill conferring upon the
United States District Attorney and Marshal, of
Utah only, the powers which he had already erro-
neously decided they possessed.

Congress, however, had studied the law regulating
the Territorial governments, and dared not go be-
fore the country, then, on an issue against so able
a decision.

Before Mr. Bates left Washington, he had a pro-
tracted interview with the President, and laid before
him a plan, looking to a settlement through the
Supreme Court of the United States, of the vexed
question of polygamy, by having six leading po-
lygamists indicted under the Act of Congress of
1862, and test cases made of them ; these six cases
to be tried in McKean's court, pro forma, and con-
victed ; then, under a special Act of Congress, to
be passed for that purpose, they should be appealed
to the Supreme Court of the United States, and
the validity of the Act of 1862, under the Treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo, should be finally settled.
The Mormon leaders agreed to abide by and sub-
mit to that decision, whatever it might be, and
Delegate George Q. Cannon, in the presence of
Attorney-General Williams, offered to be one of
these test cases. This plan pleased the President,
and Mr. Bates started back to Utah to hasten the
impaneling of the grand jury, the court being then
in session, in time to have these indictments found
before the Republican convention should be held in
Philadelphia, June 9, 1872, but all in vain ; the

428 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

secret leaked out and the court instantly adjourned
sine die, and on the return of the District Attorney
to Salt Lake, it was too late to carry out the plan
agreed upon.

At the next October term, 1872, of McKean's
court, the District Attorney again applied for a
grand jury to take up these test cases of polygamy,
but the wily judge kept it under advisement several
days, and then under the plea of having already
too much business h his court, refused to order a
venire, his motive, in reality, being to avoid the test.
Although ten years had elapsed since Congress had
passed the law against polygamy, that law had never
yet been enforced. President Lincoln on the moment
of its passage refused to approve or sign it. He
appointed Hosea Stout — a Mormon polygamist—
as United States District Attorney for Utah, in
1862, and declared openly that he had very gravb
doubts as to the right of Congress to interfere with
domestic relations in the Territories. No instruc-
tions to enforce that law ever issued from the De^
partment of Justice.

McKean had been thwarted at every point. The
indictments which his illegal grand jury had found
against many of the Mormons for " Lewd and las-
" civious co-habitation with their plural wives," were
all swept away by the Englebrecht decision. He
now adopted a new policy, and for three years car-
ried it out, — which was to hinder and delay the
business of the Courts of Utah, civil and criminal*
to impanel no juries, either grand or petit, till Con-
gress was coerced to pass a law by which the Mor-
mons, whether actual polygamists or only religious

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 429

believers therein, should be kept off all juries, and
all polygamic wives could apply for divorce and
have alimony given them. In direct violation of the
Englebrecht decision, ordering petit juries to be
•drawn from term to term, McKean decided that
they were illegal because drawn by McAllister, the
Territorial marshal. The Chief Justice declared
upon one occasion that he " would starve every
" lawyer out of Utah, if necessary, to show Con-
" gress that other and further legislation was indis-
41 pensable."

In the meantime, McKean, having sole control of
all judicial matters in Utah, anarchy reigned su-
preme. Criminals languished in prison, and liti-
gants in court, even in civil cases, from 1872 to
1874, were left without any remedy at law, simply
because the Chief Justice would not yield obedience
to the decision of the Supreme Court of the United
States ; and President Grant, blinded by false ad-
vice, would not remove McKean from an office to
which he was a living disgrace.

In the meantime, wherever an opportunity offered
under cover of the law to prosecute any of the Mor-
mons, where no jurors were required, McKean and
his fellow conspirators did not fail to improve it.

An attempt was made, in the Spring of 1874, by
McKean's friends, to get possession of the records,
papers, and treasures of Salt Lake City, in the name
of a self-constituted people's committee, more than
half of whom were non-taxpayers of the city. Judge
Sutherland, however, argued with such consummate/
clearness and force that there was no power in the
court to grant a mandamus, that the counsel for

430 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

the relators, the ablest lawyers of the entire clique, ■
waived the mandamus and gave it up, while Justice
McKean was eager, in violation of all precedent, to
grant it. Had success crowned this effort, Salt
Lake City would have gone at once into the hands
of a ring, — like that which has plundered New
York.

At the August election of 1874, by a pre-arranged
conspiracy, the ballot boxes of Tooele County were
stuffed with illegal votes to the number of thou-
sands, more than two-thirds of those votes being
cast by non-residents. Thus men were elected
through fraudulent votes, and received certificates,
and commissions of office in gross violation of law.-
The statutes of Utah provide that the title to an
office can only be tried by a writ of quo warranto r ■
and if the incumbents in Tooele County had usurped'
their offices, or held them contrary to law, they
could only be punished and ousted after trial by a
quo warranto and verdict of a jury thereon ; but in
spite of all law, McKean denied a trial by jury,
found the facts himself, and then gave judgment in
each case in favor of the gentile ballot-box stuffers,.
against the Mormon legal voters and tax-payers^
and by mandamus compeled the latter to turn over
to the former, books, records, offices, etc. In Janu-
ary, 1875, these cases were again very elaborately
argued in the Supreme Court, but Justice McKean
and his associate, Justice Boreman, refused to con-
sider or decide the causes, simply to leave their
colleagues in fraud in office until their term
expired.

But the case of Ann Eliza Webb, — a name now

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. . 43 1

familiar to the world, demonstrates still further the
futile attempts of McKean to rob and destroy the
Mormon people. This woman, who was the wife
of one Dee, and the mother of his two children, be-
came the celestial or plural wife of President Young,
under the ceremonies of the Mormon creed, while
he was living openly with his legal wife, to whom
he was married in 1833, at Kirtland, Ohio. The
Act of Congress of 1862 made this plural marriage
a crime, punishable if prosecuted within two years
after the second marriage. Of course the marriage
was, by law, utterly null and void. Ann Eliza well
knew this, and so also did McKean. He had been
an eye-witness of the fact for five years. There
were several plain objections to granting her prayer
for divorce and alimony, viz. :

1 st. — At that time Probate Courts had juris-
diction over all matters of divorce and alimony.

2d. — The District Court had no power to meddle
therein.

3d. — There had been no lawful marriage between
Ann Eliza and Brigham Young, and, of course,
there could be no lawful divorce or alimony.

Notwithstanding these facts, which were well-
known to McKean, this malignant usurper, — who
should have dismissed this bill of complaint as soon
as he had read it, as absurd, and, in any case, as one
over which he had no jurisdiction, — entertained and
kept it in court over two years, and in violation of
all law and equity, awarded to the counsel of Ann
Eliza the sum of $3,000, and to her the sum of
$9,500 alimony, pending decision. He also awarded
her $500 per month until Brigham Young could

4*3-2 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

prove by witnesses in court, his answer, when he
would dismiss her bill, deny a divorce, and give
defendant costs, but not until he had first robbed
him of from $15,000 to $20,000 for alimony. He
also ordered that, if counsel fee was not paid in ten
days, and alimony in twenty days thereafter, Presi-
dent Young should be imprisoned for contempt of
Court. Acting on the advice of counsel, who had
taken an appeal to the Supreme Court of the
United States from this decree, President Young
refused to pay counsel fees until after argument
on the appeal, whereupon McKean ordered this
venerable and reverend leader of a people, on one of
the coldest, stormiest days of March, to be confined in
a penitentiary. It was this last straw which broke
the judicial camel's back. It was so notoriously in
violation of accepted law that a woman, the seven-
teenth plural wife, so-called,— a relation not legally
recognized at all," — should have alimony granted her
by a so-called christian Judge, that the moral sense
of the' President and his Cabinet was at length
shocked, and the Bench and Bar everywhere uprose
against sudi an enormity. It resulted in McKean's
instant removal and disgrace ; and with him fell a
system of judicial tyranny, the like of which
never before disgraced the annals of American
jurisprudence.

Thus ended the five long years of persecution of
Brigham Young and his people, through a con-
spiracy which resulted in the complete disgrace and
Overthrow of the conspirators.

The new Chief Justice was an honest man, and
would not lend himself to any system of fraud or

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 433

injustice, and, in the case of Ann Eliza, he deter-
mined that the order for alimony should be ex-
punged from the record. But this did not occur,,
however, until its victim had been imprisoned, and
had paid over $4,000 for counsel fees, and two
months' alimony.

The five years of judicial mal-administration of
McKean in Utah may be summarized as follows :

1st; — $100,000, of United States public money,,
belonging to the Department of Justice, have been
squandered there.

2d. — No Mormon has ever been convicted, during
that period, of any offence against the laws of the
Territory, or of the United States, except :

3d. — The case of the United States vs. George
Reynolds, for polygamy, where the verdict of guilty
was found by a jury, nine of whom were Mormon
polygamists.; and the witnesses who furnished all
the evidence, including the plural wife herself, were
all polygamists — which case is expected to go to
the Supreme Court of the United States, where the
validity of the Act of '62 will be finally settled, as it
would have been in '72, had not the plan then
agreed upon been frustrated by the Federal officials
in Utah.

4th. — These illegal prosecutions, including the
false imprisonment of Brigham Young and the
leaders of the people, have cost them in counsel
fees, loss of time, and injuries to their business, at
least $500,000.

5th. — The panic and alarm created thereby in the
States of the Union, and the fear of a collision be-
tween the authorities and the Mormon people, have

434 LIFE OF brigham young; or,

driven or kept away millions of dollars of capital.
A single word in view of this remarkable history:
as verified by the records, it is demonstrated that in
every case where the court sought to rob, oppress,
vex and harass President Young and his people,
to deprive them of their lives, liberty and property,,
it was finally overruled by the special judgment of
heaven, in the decisions of the Supreme Court, and
McKean's successors in office. McKean's own wicked
acts, decrees, and judgments became the instru-
ments of his downfall, disgrace and end. The author-
ities in Washington* were compelled to officially
decapitate him, solely by reason of his violation of
the law, and of equity and good conscience, thus
going to prove that now, as in the past, Brigham
Young and that chosen people are under the especial
care and protection of heaven, and that all who have
sought by wicked and criminal means to destroy or
injure them, have, sooner or later, — as in case of
Drummond, Harding, Wood, Hawley, Ashley, Col-
fax, Cullom Poland, Williams, and others, — been
confounded or disgraced.

CHAPTER XXXI.

CONGRESSIONAL MATTERS SUBSEQUENT TO 1870.
POLYGAMIC THEOCRACY BOLDLY SUBMITTED AT
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. DELEGATE CANNON'S
CONGRESSIONAL CAREER. GENERAL GRANT VISITS
UTAH. MEETING OF THE PRESIDENTS.

While affairs in Utah were in the condition just
narrated, it seemed as if Providence determined
that the Mormon case in its entirety should be sent
to Washington. Delegate Hooper, who had repre-
sented Utah most efficiently and untiringly for ten
years on the floor of the House, and who, in addi-
tion to this, had spent nearly two years in Washing-
ton as Senator elect, trying to get the Territory
admitted as a State, having served so long and
faithfully, it was deemed best to relieve him from
the arduous duties of the position. Moreover,
he needed rest and the privilege of attending to his
affairs at home, and enjoying the society of his
family and friends. The question then arose, with
many, " Who will be sent as delegate ? " Many
excellent friends felt that it would be a great mis-
fortune to lose the services of Mr. Hooper at such
a time. No man was better known in Washington
than he. His reputation was excellent, and though
known as a Mormon, it was generally understood

436 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

that he was not a practical polygamist. He had
served the Territory efficiently and to the satisfac-
tion of his constituents. Others, with excellent
motives, but with little faith in the value of the
Mormon movement in the age, not only counseled
:the sending of & conservative Gentile at that period
to Congress, but the renunciation of polygamy
itself, and the practical abandonment of the Mor-
mon mission in its vast society aims, allowing the
Church to quietly settle down to a " respectable "
religious sect. Not so, however, will the Mormons
ever think. President Young and his compeers
never will resign their mission, nor the Mormon
people prove so unworthy as to give up the fraction,
^even, of their institutions. The general feeling
among the clearest thinkers of Utah was, to send a
strictly socialistic representative man. In the per-
son of George Q. Cannon they had such a man.
" But," it was urged by some timid persons, " he is
*" an apostle and a polygamist. If you send him,
"" your enemies will say that you mean to defy pub-
" lie sentiment, and you will be sure to evoke strong
°" opposition." President Young, however, was in
favor of his nomination, and the people determined
to elect him. They certainly had the right, under
the constitution, to choose whom they pleased to
represent them, so long as he possessed the consti-
tutional qualifications. What had a representative's
religion or family relations to do with his qualifica-
tions for Congress ? Catholics and Jews had been
deemed suitable for legislators in free America,
and why should Mormons be deprived of this
right ?

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 437-

It was a grand manifestation of faith and right-
eousness, when George Q. Cannon, an apostle and
polygamist, was sent to Congress. The Mormon
people have never from the first moment shirked
their responsibilities, but have ever courted a right-
eous trial of their cause. Milton's motto : " Give
" truth a fair and an open field ; let her grapple with
" error ; whoever knew truth worsted ? " — has been
well applied in their case. They have never shun-
ned investigation, but have ever met with resigna-
tion even their imprisonments and martyrdoms. At
this very period President Young, as we have seen,
had just submitted to arrest and imprisonment,
from which he was only relieved by the decision of
the Supreme Court of the United States.

Upon consideration, the honorable anti-Mormon
must confess that next to giving up their u institu-
tion," the most proper thing for the Mormon people
to do, was to boldly send their cause to Congress,,
in the person of a polygamic representative. It was
Congress that gave them an anti-polygamic law,,
which even a missionary judge could not twist into
an effective form : Congress; that was everlastingly
in travail with special legislation for Utah: Con-
gress and the President of the United States, who
insisted that "polygamic theocracy" must be brought,
to trial somewhere or somehow. " Polygamic theoc-
racy " could therefore have chosen no better field
of mission for one of its ablest apostles than Con-
gress itself. Half a dozen earnest Mormon elders
in Congress, would be the rarest godsend that the.
nation has seen for the last quarter of a century.

The institutions of that people are truly embodied

43^ LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

in President Young, but he could not go to Con-
gress to stand in their stead. One therefore had to
be chosen worthy both to represent Brigham Young
and the Mormons, as a people, as well as.the general
interests of Utah, as a Territory. George Q. Cannon
was the man, and there is no doubt that his election
meant as much in the minds of the whole com-
munity.

Delegate Cannon was elected to Congress in the
Fall of 1872. One George R. Maxwell, Register
of the Land Office of the Territory, had been a
candidate for the same office in 1870, against Dele-
gate Hooper, but had been badly beaten, receiving
only a few hundred votes as against over 26,000 in
favor of Mr. Hooper. On the strength of this
meagre vote, he contested the seat, collected a mass
of testimony, and put the delegate to the trouble
and expense of rebutting it. He relied mainly for
his success on the prejudices which he knew existed
against the Mormons ; he also accused Mr. Hooper
of disloyalty, and of having taken part against the
Government during the Buchanan troubles ; and
of being unfitted as a delegate in Congress, by rea-
son of having taken the " endowment oath." He
failed, however, to accomplish anything in the mat-
ter ; but, when Mr. Cannon was nominated as candi-
date for delegate, he doggedly renewed the contest,
and made no concealment of his expectations that
he would get the seat. In his notice of contest
Maxwell did not accuse Mr. Cannon of being- in
rebellion during Buchanan's time, but he made the
same charge concerning the " endowment oath " as
he had against his predecessor, with the additional

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 439

charge of his having conspired with Brigham
Young and others to intimidate voters, under
threats of death if they did not vote for him ; and
also charged him with living in polygamy in " viola-
" tion of the laws of God and his country," with
four wives. At the opening of the 43d Congress,
Maxwell was present, and with some friends to help
him, endeavored to create an influence among mem-
bers adverse to the delegate elect. When the
members were being sworn in, he succeeded in
inducing Mr. Merriam, of New York, to introduce a
resolution into the House embodying in brief his
charges against Mr. Cannon. According to the
rules of the House, one objection, offered by a mem-
ber, can prevent the swearing in of another, until it
is disposed of by the House. He therefore had to
step aside until the other delegates were sworn in ;
then the resolution came up for discussion. The
leading men of both political parties spoke
against the resolution. The reading of his certifi-
cate of election was demanded, and as it stated that
his vote was over 20,000 above his opponent's, it
created a sensation. It was clear, according to all
precedents, and the rules of the House, that he had
a strong prima facie case, and was fully entitled to
his seat. On motion, the resolution was tabled,
only one dissenting voice being heard, and he was
sworn in.

Every effort was made by the contestant Max-
well, during that session, to get him unseated, but,
the committee on electiens, by unanimous vote, de-
cided that Maxwell was not entitled to the seat, and
by a like vote delared that Mr. Cannon was.

44-0 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

Upon all subjects connected with the Mormon
question, there is great sensitiveness and timidity
manifested by members of Congress. They are
strongly averse to putting themselves on record in
such a manner as to expose them to the charge of
being favorable to Mormonism : therefore, when a
resolution was introduced by a member by the name
of Hazelton, appointing a committee to investigate
the Maxwell charges, though many were opposed
to it, it received a majority vote. Action, however,
was not had upon it during that session, and in the
second session of that Congress, although the
matter was pushed, in committee, to the extent of
recommending a resolution to " exclude " the dele-
gate, it was never considered by the House.

Upon the opening of the 44th Congress, a contest-
ant (Baskin) was ready to urge his case upon the at-
tention of the House of Representatives. But the old
members were becoming accustomed to these con-
tests. They knew by past experience how little
real merit they possessed. In this instance the con-
testant for the seat had against him a majority of
over 20,000 votes. Those who knew anything of
the case, therefore, saw that whatever the objections
to Mr. Cannon himself might be, the contestant
could lay no just claim to the seat. But the com-
mittee on elections were in duty bound to listen to
the case. Mr. Baskin made his argument before
them, and was replied to, in a powerful argument,
by the sitting delegate. At present (June, 1876)
the decision of the committee, if they have arrived
at any, has not been made public.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 44 1

In the early part of October, 1875, President
Grant and wife, with a party of friends and relatives,
journeyed to Salt Lake City, where they were most
cordially received by the people. On the day of
their arrival in the Territory, President Young and
a select party, representing the municipal authorities
of Salt Lake City, proceeded by special train to
Ogden, to meet and welcome them.

The meeting of the two Presidents was simple
but impressive, — one representing the fierce and
aggressive bigotry of the age — the other the em-
bodiment of its successful resistance.

The presidential party remained in Salt Lake
City but a day and a half.

CHAPTER XXXII.

UTAH EMERGES FROM HER ISOLATION*, TRANSFORM-
ATIONS INCIDENT THERETO. ZION CO-OPERATIVE
MERCANTILE INSTITUTION. THE MORMON EMIGRA-
TION. PARTING VIEW OF BRIGHAM YOUNG.

On the advent of the Pacific Railroad the Mormon
leader went out to meet and shake hands with civil-
ization with a great shout of joy, and all his people
amened his salutation, and sang hallelujahs that the
days of isolation were no more. And this was to
their minds another literal fulfillment of prophecy.
Already, as we have seen, they rejoiced in the fulfill-
ment of that prophecy in which it is declared that
" It shall come to pass in the last days that the
" mountain of the Lords house shall be established
" in the top of the mountains, and all nations shall
" flow unto it," and now, in the opening up of this
great highway was the fulfillment of that other
prophecy of Isaiah, in which it is written that " a great
" highway shall be cast up," and " they shall come
" with speed swiftly."

In the altered state of things that quickly ensued
Brigham Young met all the conditions. Indeed, so
rapid and varied were his transformations during
the next few years that he may have often seemed
to have been reversing himself and his policies.

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 443

The fact is, he was testing his problems; now in his
movements advancing, now retreating ; now urging
his social ideas with all the might of his matchless
will, now accepting with resignation the degree of
progress attained by the people. This has been
strikingly illustrated in his efforts to transform the
Mormons into a great co-operative community, and
to establish " in Zion" the " Order of Enoch ;" thus
aiming to create a superior kind of isolation, keep-
ing God and the Devil apart, as of old, and Zion
still Zion in the very presence of the gentiles. In
these efforts he has been testing only that which is
possible, — consistent in all his movements with the
mission of his life.

He had long foreseen that isolation in its old
forms must pass away. The railroad was coming ;
a " manifest destiny " was with the railroad. Brig-
ham Young is a man of " destiny." In the interests
of his people he became a chief contractor in build-
ing the Utah end of the Pacific Railroads ; he
hastened to construct the Utah Central ; he is-
pushing railroads all over the Territory. Even
before the building of these roads he had net-
worked the settlement with lines of telegraph. He
has been as successful as a railroad king 1 as he was

o

Jn leading the Mormons to these valleys. It is not
the Walker Brothers, not the Gentiles, not the
" Apostates," not Congress, not the civilization that
came from abroad as an invader, but Brigham
Young and the Mormons, who have given to Utah
her railroads and telegraphs. In this, as also in his
social and co-operative experiments, he has suc-
ceeded as far as developed.

444 LIFE 0F BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

The Mormon people, inspired by the genius of
President Young, are now solving one of the most
important problems of the age. It is' that of a
social and commercial commonwealth.

Reformers and Statesmen have long been con-
scious of a cardinal lacking in the constitutions of
the world, as touching its social systems. Even
England to-day is without a social system, though
she has abundant political machinery, dating back
to Alfred the Great. But latterly such men as
Robert Dale Owen have brought forth co-operative
ideas, and have preached a socialistic gospel as
being absolutely necessary to the age.

In this great social movement President Young
is in the line of the special mission of his life. A
society builder is the type of his ministry ; social
systems are his offspring.

Early in 1868 the merchants were startled by the
announcement " that it was advisable that the
"people of Utah Territory should become their own
" merchants ; " and that for this purpose an organi-
zation should be created for them expressly for im-
porting and distributing merchandise on a compre-
hensive plan. When it was asked of President
Young, " What do you think the merchants will do
" in this matter ; will they fall in with this co-opera-
" tive idea ? " he answered, " I do not know ; but if
" they do not we shall leave them out in the cold,
" the same as the Gentiles, and their goods shall
" rot upon their shelves." Meeting followed meet-
ing ; a committee was appointed to frame a constitu-
tion and by-laws, and, without seeing the end from' the
beginning, their part of the programme was carried

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 445

out, and an institution formed on paper ; subscriptions
were solicited, and cash fell into the coffers of the
treasurer pro tern. This was during the winter
months of 1868. With the turn of the year a com-
mittee was appointed to commence operations.
They waited upon the President for advice, who, in
liis quiet but decided way said : " Go to work and
do it." After a little conversation the question was
again suggested : " What shall we do ? " With the
same sententious brevity, the reply came, " Go to
work and do it." But how ? We haven't enough
money ; we haven't the goods ; we have no build-
ings ; we haven't sufficient credit. " Go to work
'" and do it, and I will show you how." Consulta-
tions were the order of the day ; business men
were interviewed ; offers of stock began to be made •
the leading firms gracefully capitulated, and in a
few weeks the full-fledged institution was in exist-
ence. Stock was bought, business premises leased,
its agents sent east to represent and purchase for it,
and its career was opened with a subscribed capital
of $250,000, under the name of " Zion Co-operative
41 Mercantile Institution."

President Young was the principal stockholder,
and Geo. A. Smith, Geo. Q. Cannon, Wm. Jennings,
H. S. Eldredge, Wm. H. Hooper and others were
among the first directors. There was quite a char-
acteristic feature in this accumulation of stock
which evinced a thoughtful care for individual inter-
ests that should not pass unnoticed. . To secure
premises it was advisable that the stock of Jen-/
nings, and Eldredge, and Clawson should be pur-
chased ; and it was also considered fair that the

446 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

stocks held by others should be largely reduced by
purchase or investment, which was done. This
policy, shielded from embarrassment those who
would otherwise have inevitably suffered from
the inauguration and prestige of the Z. C. M. L
Simultaneously with the organization of the parent
institution, local organizations were formed in all
the settlements of the Territory ; each pledged to ~
sustain the one central depot, and to make their
purchases from it. The people, with great unan-
imity, became shareholders in their respective local
11 co-operatives," and also in the parent co-operative,
so that they might enjoy the profits of their own
investment and purchases.

It has been a cardinal principle with the Mormon
people, and the continued counsel and practice of
their leaders, that all articles of consumption should,,
as speedily as possible, when practicable, be made
at home. No sounder principle of political economy
was ever promulgated. It was early evident, also,
that indiscriminate and uncontrolled importation '
was not the way to encourage home production ;
therefore, if importation could be consolidated ; if
the character of that importation could be canvassed
and judiciously guarded ; every struggling enter-
prise at home would be aided, and as soon as sup-
plies were equal to the demand, these products could
be distributed to every settlement throughout the
mountains. This was the key to the situation ; and
among" the first results of the idea was the increased
manufacture of jeans, cotton yarns from home-
grown cotton, boots and shoes, clothing, brooms,
soap, trunks, leather and other articles, giving em-

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 447

ployment to many, and opening up that best of all
markets — a home demand for home productions.

These ideas popularized the "institution." It was
looked upon by the people as belonging to/them, as
serving their interests, as the guardian of their
rights, as the great bulwark against the intrusion of,
an undesirable element, and an ever-present power
against the encroachments and tyranny of capital.
As a consequence it grew rapidly, and by increased
business and the turning of its capital many times a
year, it was able to pay handsome dividends, form
a reserve for contingencies, and at" the same time
extend the circle of its operations, and increase the
number of its departments. The promptness with
which it met its obligations brought into the com-
mercial world a desire to be favored with its patron-
age, and thus from an insignificant and despised
origin, it sprang almost at a bound to the highest
position of commercial credit. Soon its interests
became so important, and its patronage so desirable,
that the threatened Congressional legislation of '72
and 'j2> was doubtless modified at the recommenda-
tion of its friends. Visitors to Salt Lake City looked
through its many departments, and at its immense
amount and variety of merchandise with astonish-
ment and wonder, that in the very heart of the
mountains should be found a business whose mag-
nitude and status could only be paralleled in the
chief cities of the Union.

When the panic of )f j2> fell upon the country much
larger and more experienced business institutions
yielded and went down before the gale ; yet this
institution met with but a momentary faltering; and

44-8 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG ; OR,

now it stands erect, its honor uncompromised, its
credit unimpaired, and it, as an institution, more
fully prepared to fill the mission assigned it by its
great founder.

Its officers are a president, vice-president, seven
directors, general superintendent, secretary and
treasurer.

But aside from its commercial success, President
Young has seen . in it the stepping-stone to the
establishment of other principles of social and
political economy. He, with the fire and fervor of
the prophetic impulse, knows and tells of the
" Order of Zion," to which all the leading move-
ments inaugurated by him tend. His unflinching
persistency is bound to tell, and the future will
surely witness the fruition of other and grander
desires, in behalf of his people, that have moved the
heart and purpose of this great and remarkable
man.

But the merchant class, both Mormon and Gen-
tile, were opposed to the grand co-operative move-
ment of President Young. This was a matter of
course. Moneyed men and monopolists all the
world over will ever be opposed to the co-operation
of the people and the establishment of anything
like a Christian communism. Yet the New Testa-
ment examples show that communism " in all
things " is the very basis of a true Christianity.
And it is also the crowning aim of Mormonisnv
which copies strictly after the old and new examples
of the bible. Hence polygamy, hence, too, Presi-
dent Young's desire to establish, before his death,
a grand communistic church after the " Order of

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 449

Enoch." The Mormons have it in their power
to found the most successful commonwealth the
world has ever seen. Its success would attract the
attention not only of America, but of Europe — in-
deed of all the world, and multiply the Mormons a
hundred fold.

Although President Young has not yet fully pre-
vailed in establishing this order of heaven upon
earth, he has at least succeeded as far as the people
were prepared for it. To reconcile the " children
" of this world " into a perfect brotherhood is no
easy task for a great statesman. But his co-opera-
tive movements will live, and the principle and
spirit of co-operation will permeate all Mormon,
society.

. The civilized world is prophetic of a grand social
change, and the Mormon genius is not only suscep-
tible of this change, but pregnant with it ; hence
the " United Order."

The Mormon mission, in its prophetic glory, em-
braces the gathering of a Latter-day Israel and the
building up of a Zion on the American continent;
but, viewed even in the most practical light, the
grand emigrational movement of the Mormons is
the most striking social event of the age, and the
man who has executed it has wrought a work
worthy of a chapter in the history of America.

Brigham Young, as the " Gatherer," is a more
palpable character to the American mind than Brig-
ham Young as the " Lion of the Lord." As the
emigrator of tens of thousands from Europe, to

450 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

people the three hundred cities which he has
founded on the Pacific Coast he is as understand-
able to the ordinary citizen as to one of his own
apostles. Indeed these vast emigrations of the
Mormons from Europe, each year, give renewed
evidence that " Mormondom " is a living, growing
fact, under the successful management of an empire-
founding prophet.

It was Heber C. Kimball who first proclaimed to
Great Britain the gathering of the " Latter-day
Saints " to America, but it was Brigham Young who
started the great emigrational tide.

The first regular company of emigrant Saints }
numbering about 200, sailed from Liverpool for
New York on the 7th of August, 1840, on board
the NortJi America. The second vessel was the
Sheffield, which sailed in February, 1841 ; and about
the time of the departure of the Sheffield, a com-
pany from Herefordshire and the neighboring coun-
ties (the disciples of Apostle Woodruff) sailed
from Bristol. Since the expulsion from Nauvoo,
the emigration has been direct from Liverpool to
Utah, via New Orleans. New York, Philadelphia,
Boston and other American ports.

The following epistle-general from the Twelve,
dated at Winter Quarters, Omaha Nation, Dec. 23d,
1847, W1 *H be of interest in this connection :

" To the Saints in England, Scotland, Ireland,
Wales, and adjacent islands and countries, we say,
emigrate as speedily as possible to this vicinity,
looking to and following the counsel of the Presi-
dency at Liverpool : shipping to New Orleans, and
from thence direct to Council Bluffs, which will save

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 451

much expense. Those who have but little means,
and little or no labor, will soon exhaust that means
if they remain where they are, therefore it is wisdom
that they remove without delay ; for here is land on
which, by their labor, they can speedily better their
condition for their further journey. And to all
Saints in any country bordering upon the Atlantic,.
we would say, pursue the same course, come imme-
diately and prepare to go west, — bringing with you
all kinds of choice seeds, of grain, vegetables, fruit,
shrubbery, trees, and vines — everything that will
please the eye, gladden the heart, or cheer the soul
of man, that grows upon the face of the whole
earth ; also the best stock of beast, bird and fowl
of every kind ; also the best tools of every descrip-
tion, and machinery for spinning, or weaving, and
dressing cotton, wool, flax and silk, &c, &c, or
models and descriptions of the same, by which they
can construct them ; and the same in relation to all
kinds of farming utensils and husbandry, such as
corn shelters, grain threshers and cleaners, smut
machines, mills, and every implement and article
within their knowledge that shall tend to promote
the comfort, health, happiness, or prosperity of any
people. So far as it can be consistently done, bring
models and drafts, and let the machinery be built
where it is used, which will save great expense in
transportation, particularly in heavy machinery, and
tools and implements generally."

And here must be noticed the covenant of the
emigration, to show how faithfully it was kept, — as
have been all Brigham Young's covenants as the
leader of his people.

Previous to leaving Nauvoo - President Young
prompted the Latter-day Saints to enter into a
solemn covenant in the temple, that they would not

45 2

LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

cease their exertions until every individual of them
who desired and was unable to gather to the valley
by his own means was brought to that place. No
sooner were they located in the Rocky Mountains,
than the Church prepared to fulfill this covenant,
extending its application to the Saints in all the
world. The subject was introduced at the October
conference, in 1849, by President Heber C. Kimball,
and a unanimous vote was there and then taken to
raise a fund for the fulfillment of the promise. A.
committee was appointed to raise money, and
Bishop Edward Hunter sent to the frontiers to pur-
chase wagons and cattle, to bring the poor Saints
from the Pottowatomie lands. About $5,000 were
raised that season. This fund was designated
11 The Perpetual Emigration Fund," and the method
of its application is well set forth in the following
from a letter to Apostle Orson Hyde, who was at the
time presiding at winter quarters :

Great Salt Lake City,
October 16th, 1849.

President Orson Hyde: Beloved brother, we
write to you more particularly at this time, concern-
ing the gathering, and the mission of our general
agent for the perpetual emigration fund for the
coming year, Bishop Hunter, who will soon be with
you, bearing the funds already raised in this place.

In the first place, this fund has been raised by
voluntary donations, and is to be continued by the
same process, and by so managing as to preserve
the same, and cause it to multiply.

* * As early in the Spring as it will

possibly do, on account of feed for cattle, Brother
Hunter will gather all his company, organize them

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 453

in the usual order, and preside over the camp,
traveling with the same to this place, having pre-
viously procured the best teamsters possible, such
as are accustomed to driving, and will be kind and
attentive to their teams.

When the Saints thus helped arrive here, they
will give their obligations to the Church to refund
to the amount of what they have received, as soon
as circumstances will permit ; and labor will be fur-
nished, to such as wish, on the public works, and
good pay ; and as fast as they can procure the
necessaries of life, and a surplus, that surplus will be
applied to liquidating their debt, and thereby in-
crease the perpetual fund.

By this it will readily be discovered that the
funds are to be appropriated in the form of a loan
rather than a gift ; and this will make the honest in
heart rejoice, for they have to labor and not live on
the charity of their friends, while the lazy idlers, if
any such there be, will find fault and want every
luxury furnished them for the journey, and in the
end pay nothing. * * *

Brother Hunter will return all the funds to this
place next season, when the most judicious course
will be pursued to convert all the cattle and means
into cash, that the same may be sent abroad as
speedily as possible on another mission, together
with all that we can raise besides to add to it ; and
. we anticipate that the Saints at Pottowatomie and
in the States will increase the fund by all possible
means the coming winter, so that our agent may
return with a large company.

The few thousands we send out by our agent at
this time is like a grain of mustard seed in the
earth ; we send it forth into the world, and among
the Saints, a good soil, and we expect it will grow
and flourish, and spread abroad in a few weeks ; that
it will cover' England, cast its shadow on Europe,
and in process of time compass the whole earth ;

454 LIFE -OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

that is to say, these funds are destined to increase
until Israel is gathered from all nations, and the poor
can sit under their own vine, and inhabit their own
house, and worship God in Zion.

We remain your brethren in the gospel,

Brigham Young,
Heber C. Kimball,
Willard Richards.

A similar epistle was written to Orson Pratt, the
President of the British Mission, saying at the
close :

Your office in Liverpool is the place of deposit
for all funds received either for this or the tithing
funds for all Europe, and you will not pay out only
upon our order, and to such persons as we shall
direct.

These instructions and general epistles are the
more important in the emigrational history, as they
are substantially the basis upon which all the emi-
grations and business thereof have been conducted
from that time to the present.

Donations in England were made straightway.
The first received was 2s. 6d. from Mark and Char-
lotte Shelly of Woolwich, on the 19th of April,
1850. The next was £1 from George P. Waugh of
Edinburgh, on the 19th of June; but in time the
various emigration funds of the British mission
alone became immense.

The mode of conducting the emigrations from
Europe was as patriarchal as the Church itself. As
the emigration season came round, from every
branch and conference the Saints would be gathered

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 455

and taken to Liverpool by their elders, who saw
them on shipboard in vessels chartered for their use.
Not a moment were they left to the mercy of
" runners " and shipping agents. When on board,
the companies, which in some cases have amounted
to nearly a thousand souls per ship, were divided
into wards, each ward being under its president or
bishop, and his two councilors, and each company
under its president and councilors ; and besides
these were the doctor, steward, and cook, with their
assistants. During the passage, regular service was
daily observed, — morning and evening prayers,
preaching meetings and councils. Besides these
were numerous entertainments, concerts, dances, &c,
so that the trips across the Atlantic were like merry
makings, enjoyed by the captains and their officers
as much as by the Saints. Reaching America
a similar system was pursued on the railroads,
up the rivers, and across the plains until the
Saints arrived in the valleys, when they were re-
ceived, in the old time, by Brigham and the author-
ities in Zion, and sent by Bishop Hunter to the
various settlements where they were most needed
to people the fast-growing cities of Utah.

As the " Gatherer," Briorham is as colossal as he
was in the character of the Mormon Moses in the
exodus. In the one, he founded Utah with a brave
apostolic band of pioneers ; in the other he has
peopled Utah from the robust races of Great
Britain and Scandinavia. Their children will in-
habit these valleys for generations to come, fill up
their cities of to-day, and build as many more. The
Gentiles may, indeed will, increase in the " land of

45^ LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG; OR,

the Saints," but the Mormons will ever outnumber
them ten to one, and they and their children will
form the backbone of the State.

Here, for the time being, we must take a parting
view of Brigham Young.

The statue of the man is boldly chiseled in his
life, as by his own hands.

In this history we have seen him as the fitting
successor of the Mormon Prophet, as the modern
Moses, and the founder of Utah. To the popular
mind, the whole epic of Mormonism is embodied in
the lives and missions of Joseph Smith and Brig-
ham Young ; but quorums of great men, in the
Mormon sense, have helped to bear the " kingdom "
— this ark of " the new and everlasting covenant "
— upon their shoulders. And, apostolically viewed,
they have been men of great character, great force,
and surpassing faith, — which constitute the soul of
all new religions that bear the stamp of destiny.

In the history of the Mormons we have seen the
real apostolic character, and the manifestation of the
superhuman forces of a religion destined to be the
beginning of a new dispensation and civilization..
The leaders have been like the fishermen who
established Christianity, and their disciples like
those who laid the foundation of all the christian
empires. Such a class of divines, and such a people,
under Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, have
grown into a mighty power. We have seen their
strange works and methods in these chapters. They

UTAH AND HER FOUNDERS. 457

have not been as polished stones, but, as they liken
themselves — as the "little stone cut out of the moun-
" tain without hands," forecast by Daniel the
Prophet, as the " Latter-day kingdom," which
should roll down from the mountain and " fill the
" whole earth."

And Brigham Young, in the characteristic work
of his life, has made this possible. Without such a
man, as Joseph's successor, it never could have been
fulfilled. Joseph was a divine success ; Brigham
has clothed it in the body of a great worldly suc-
cess, and the world who rejected the one has been
made to comprehend a successful Mormonism in
the other. He has made it comprehend Mormonism
in a matchless exodus ; he has pioneered America
westward ; he has founded Utah, with the ground-
work of over three hundred cities, some of which
will yet be known among the great cities of America.
He has, through the elders, missioned a world, and
gathered an Israel from many nations ; he has, on
the Prophet Joseph's pattern, built up a new social
and religious system ; he has established polygamy,
which was alone enough to revolutionize a nation —
and not unlikely his organized experiment may
markedly affect the marriage question of the world ;
he has prayed with as much faith as Elijah, and
wrought with as much hard sense as Peter the
Great ; in fine, he has brought to a practical success
the strangest religious movement of modern times.

Brigham Young has led his people thirty-three
years. Seldom does it fall to the lot of rulers to
sway the sceptre so long ; still less seldom to keep
up in their lives such an unwearied sensation. His

458 LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG J OR,

name has now provoked and now charmed " all the
world." A marvelous psychology has been in that
name, to thus prevail.

He has just completed his seventy-fifth year
(June 1st, 1876). His will is still matchless; his
mind still sound. View the man as we may, Brig-
ham Young is an enduring name. The friction of
centuries will not erase it.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES,

SUPPLEMENTARY TO
" LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG j OR, UTAH AND HER

FOUNDERS."

HEBER C. KIMBALL.

Heber Chase Kimball was born June 14th,
1 801, in the town of Sheldon, Franklin County,
Vermont. His father (Solomon Farnham Kimball)
and his mother (Anna Spaulding-Kimball) were
American born, although of English extraction.
Up to the age of nineteen his life was about the
same as that of the other lads of his day
and situation ; a few months of attendance at the
common school, and ordinary labor with his father,
making up the sum of his opportunities and experi-
ences. At about the age mentioned, however, a
change occurred in his fathers circumstances which
resulted in throwing young Kimball upon his own
resources. Being extremely diffident in disposition,
and inexperienced in the ways of the world, he
suffered many hardships, — two or three times nearly
perishing from hunger. His condition being finally
brought to the attention of an older brother, he was

2 SUPPLEMENT.

offered by him an opportunity to learn the potter's
trade, which offer he gladly accepted, remaining in
apprenticeship until he was twenty-one years of
age, and afterward working for his brother as a
journeyman. While with his brother they removed
to Mendon, Monroe County, New York, where the
latter established another pottery. Although this
incident was commonplace in itself, it nevertheless
brought young Kimball within the circle of those
influences that afterward outwrought for him a most
wonderful career

In the Fall of 1823 he was married to Miss Vilate
Murray, of Victor, Ontario County, New York, and
shortly thereafter purchased his brother's business,
and settled down to the quiet prosecution of the
same.

While thus employed, it must not be forgotten,
he often brought his mind to the consideration of
the subject of religion, and was finally persuaded to
an expression of faith which led him to join the
Baptist Church. Only a few weeks elapsed there-
after, however, when the fame of certain elders of
the Church of Latter-day Saints reached his ears,
and, being prompted by curiosity, he went to see
them at the house of Phineas H. Young, in Victor,
when he, to use his own words, " for the first time
" heard the fullness of the everlasting gospel."
Speaking of his subsequent confirmation, he said,
" Under the ordinances of baptism and laying on of
" hands, I received the Holy Ghost, as the disciples
" did in ancient days, which was like a consuming
" fire ; and I was clothed in my right mind, although
" the people called me crazy. I continued in this

SUPPLEMENT. 3

" way for many months, and it seemed as though
" my flesh would consume away ; at the same time
" the Scriptures were unfolded to my mind in such
" a wonderful manner that it appeared to me at
" times as if I had formerly been familiar with
<l them."

Being ordained an elder by Joseph Young, he, in
company with him and Brigham Young, labored
in Genesee, Avon and Lyonstown, where many
were baptized and church organizations effected.
About this time these three went to Kirtland, Ohio,
where for the first time they saw the Prophet,
Joseph Smith.

In the Fall of 1833, he removed to Kirtland,
being acompanied on the journey by Brigham
Young.

Passing over the less noteworthy events which
followed, we come at once to the incident which
was the determining point in his marked career.
Of that event his journal says :

On or about the first day of June, 1837, the
Prophet Joseph came to me, while I was seated in
the front stand, above the sacrament table, on the
Melchisedec side of the temple, in Kirtland, and
whispering to me, said : " Brother Heber, the Spirit
of the Lord has whispered to me, ' let my servant
Heber go to England and proclaim my gospel, and
open the door of salvation to that nation.' '

With much misgiving as to his ability and worth,
he nevertheless accepted the " mission," and set
about its accomplishment. Of the remarkable sue-/
cess that rewarded his labors, in conjunction with
his compeers of the British mission, the Mormon

4 SUPPLEMENT.

emigration is a living monument. More particularly
does this remark apply to his second mission, along
with Brigham Young and others, in 1840, when was
performed one of the greatest missionary works
since the days of Christ's apostles.

After his return from the British Mission, Heber
labored in his apostolic calling chiefly, being but
little with his family. At the time of the martyrdom
of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, he was out, with
nearly every member of his quorum, on mission to
the Eastern States. He was the right hand man of
Brigham Young in the exodus ; and was one of the
143 pioneers. He returned with his chief to winter
quarters to gather up the body of the Saints, and
while there was chosen first councilor of Brigham
in the reorganization of the First Presidency of
the Church. To the end of his eventful life he
continued the faithful counselor and friend of his
chief, between whom and himself there had existed
for forty-three years one of those remarkable
friendships which authors love to immortalize. The
friendship of Damon and Pythias was not of a
stronger type than that of Brigham Young and
Heber C. Kimball, and Heber was as jealous of the
love of Brigham as a woman is of the love of her
husband. Heber was a very singular, very genuine,
and an extraordinarily earnest man, with a character
of so much strength and rugged honesty as to make
him one of the most noticeable men in the world.
Though born among the humble, it was both phy-
sically and metaphysically impossible for him to
make other than a strong mark in the world. His
personal appearance was powerful and uncommon ;

SUPPLEMENT 5

his structure as of iron ; and no one could well forget
the man who had seen him once. He was just such
a character as one would imagine as a bosom friend
of Oliver Cromwell. Heber C. Kimball, after
Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, was decidedly
the greatest character the Mormon Church has
brought forth. They are indeed the Mormon trinity.
He died on the 22d of June, 1868.

The universal esteem in which he was held may
be inferred from the following notice of his funeral,
by the Daily Telegraph, in its issue of the day
succeeding that event :

Yesterday the last sad offices of affection and
friendship were rendered to the mortal remains of
our beloved President, Heber Chase Kimball.

Throughout the city, stores and business houses
were closed, and ordinary business was suspended,
out of respect to the memory of the deceased.
Draped flags swung to the breeze on the tops of
public buildings, stores, and private residences. The
streets were exceedingly quiet, the few people
passing being apparently imbued with the solemnity
of the occasion.

The day also was in perfect harmony. The
oppressive sultriness of the" few preceding days
gave way to a cooler atmosphere. Black clouds
draped the skies, heaven's artillery roared, the wind
moaned and swept along in fitful gusts, and as the
appointed hour for the obsequies drew nigh, the
rain, like tear drops from heaven, fell heavily, ming-
ling with the tears of the mourners, and continuing
almost without intervals of cessation during the
ceremonies, although relieved toward evening by
brief snatches of sunshine, to show the silver lining
to a cloudy day, and to indicate the smiling Provi-
dence that rules and overrules all things for good.
****** *

6 SUPPLEMENT.

While the masses congregated in the tabernacle,
Presidents Brigham Young and Daniel H. Wells,
the Twelve Apostles, the First Presidents of the
Seventies, the Presidents of the High Priests'
Quorum, the presiding Bishop and his councilors,
the President of this Stake of Zion, the High
Council, and Capt. Croxall's band, with the pall-
bearers and relatives, repaired to the late residence
of President Kimball. Here was beheld the Chief-
tain of Zion, with whom the illustrious departed, for
a full third of a century and more, had stood
shoulder to shoulder when men's souls were tried,
with more than fraternal interest personally over-
seeing even the minutest item of arrangement in
those last solemn offices. * * *

To the " Dead March in Saul," by Croxall's band,
the procession moved from the residence, down
North Temple Street, turned south on West Tem-
ple Street, passed through the West Gate of Tem-
ple Block, entered the tabernacle at door No. 32,
north side, and occupied the seats reserved for the
purpose in front of the stand, the band still playing
as the procession entered. When the band ceased,
the powerful tones of the organ swelled forth in a
selection from Beethoven.

The remains were deposited upon a draped bier,
raised from the middle aisle, so as to be plainly
observable by all the vast audience. Seven elegant
vases of roses and other beautiful flowers were
placed upon the coffin.

In consonance with the solemnity of the scene,
the interior of the tabernacle was also draped in
mourning. * * *

The vast assemblage was called to order by Presi-
dent Young, and the choir sang a hymn composed
by Miss E. R. Snow, after which, Apostle Cannon
offered up a prayer, and the choir sang " Farewell all
earthly r honors."

The assembly was then addressed by Elders

SUPPLEMENT. J

John Taylor, Geo. A. Smith, Geo. Q. Cannon, Presi-
dents Daniel H. Wells and Brigham Young, who
said : " Brother Kimball was a man of as much
integrity, I presume, as any man who ever lived on
the earth. I have been personally acquainted with
him forty-three years, and I can testify that he has
been a man of truth, a man of benevolence, a man
that was to be trusted."

At the close of President Young's remarks, the
choir sang " O my Father, thou that dwellest," after
which the procession re-formed in its previous order,
the band playing the Belgian dead march, and the
remains of the deceased were escorted to a spot in
his private burying ground, previously selected by
himself, where they were laid by the side of Vilate,
the partner and companion of his youth.

He was mourned by the whole Church, and prin-
cipal men from all parts of the Territory honored
by their presence the memory of the dead.

GEORGE A. SMITH.

George Albert Smith was born in the town of
Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York, on the
26th day of June, 1817. It may be claimed for him
that he was of purely American descent, for his
American-born ancestry date back to 1666. On the
maternal side he was descended from the Lymans,
a family of patriotic revolutionary record ; and on
the paternal side he was cousin to Joseph Smith
the Prophet.

His cousin Joseph's seership was first brought to
his attention in 1828, by a letter written to his
grandfather by Joseph Smith, sen., in which was re-

8' SUPPLEMENT.

counted several visions that the writers son had
received ; and also in which letter was the remark :
il I always knew that God was going to raise up
" some branch of my family to be a great benefit to
" mankind."

A subsequent letter from Joseph himself, in which
he declared that the sword of the Almighty hung
over that generation, and could only be averted by
repentance and works of righteousness, made a pro-
found impression on the mind of George A., and
elicited from his father the declaration that "Joseph
" wrote like a prophet." An investigation of the
Book of Mormon resulted in the conversion of his
parents, and the consequent bigoted opposition of
their neighbors. One of these, an influential and
wealthy man, offered young Smith, — if he would
leave his parents and promise to never become a
Mormon, — a seven years' education, without expense,
and a choice of profession when his education should
be complete. His answer was worthy an everlast-
ing record : " The commandment of God requires
" me to honor my father and mother." He did so
honor them as to fully embrace their faith, and was
baptized in their presence, September ioth, 1832.
Concerning events immediately following, his journal
states :

My father sold his farm in Potsdam, and, on the
1st of May, 1833, we started for Kirtland, Ohio, the
second gathering place of the Saints, where we
arrived on the 25th, having traveled 500 miles. We
were heartily welcomed by cousin Joseph. This
was the first time I had ever seen him ; he con-
ducted us to his father's house.

SUPPLEMENT. 9

I was engaged during the Summer and Fall
in quarrying and hauling rock for the Kirtland
temple, attending masons, and performing other
duties about its walls. The first two loads of rock
taken to the temple ground were hauled from Stan-
ard's quarry by Harvey Stanley and myself.

In consequence of the persecution which raged
against Joseph, and the constant threats to do him
violence, it was found necessary to keep continued
guard, to prevent his being assassinated. During
the Fall and Winter I took part in this service,
going two miles and a half to guard.

Although but seventeen years of age, he was a
member of the company that went up to " redeem
Zion " in Jackson County, Mo. He started with
" Zion's Camp," May 5th, 1834, and returned on the
4th of August of the same year, having traveled
about 2,000 miles in three months, mostly on foot.

On the 1st of March, 1835, he was ordained a
member of the first quorum of Seventies, and on
the 5th day of May, following, in company with
Lyman Smith, started on mission through Ohio,
Pennsylvania and New York. They returned in
November, having traveled 1,850 miles on foot,
without purse or scrip, holding numerous meetings;
and making several converts.

From this time forward his life was a series of
missions, and adventures incident thereto, up to
April, 1839, when he was ordained one of the
Twelve Apostles, on the corner-stone of the temple,,
at Far West.

He was a member of the quorum of the Twelve
who went on mission to England in 1839-40, travel-
ing and preaching in the counties of Lancaster,

IO SUPPLEMENT.

Chester, Stafford," Hereford, Worcester and Glouces-
ter, and preaching the first Mormon sermon in
London.

Soon after his return, in 1841, he was married to
Miss Bethsheba W. Bigler, and after a temporary-
settlement in Zarahemla, Iowa, became a resident
of Nauvoo. He was thereafter engaged in mission
work in various States until recalled, in 1844, by the
martyrdom of the Prophet.

He was with the Twelve in the exodus from
Nauvoo, and with the pioneers in their journey from
winter quarters to the Rocky Mountains. He
planted the first potato that was put into the ground
in Salt Lake Valley, and to the day of his death
was permanently identified with the various projects
for settling and redeeming the valleys of Deseret.

When the Provisional Government of the State
of Deseret was erected, he was chosen a member
of the State Senate, and at that early date presented
a bill concerning the construction of a national rail-
road across the continent.

In speaking of his mission to Jerusalem, which,
in company with Lorenzo Snow, Albert Carring-
ton, Ferezmore Little and others, he accomplished in
1873, it w ill be necessary to explain that one of the
most peculiar and characteristic phases of the Mor-
mon religion is the linking of the destiny of this
modern Israel, raised up by Joseph Smith, with the
destiny of ancient Israel. The Jews, of course, are
the proper representatives of the former, the Mor-
mons of the latter.

As observed elsewhere, the Mormons themselves
are supposed to be the literal seed of Abraham

SUPPLEMENT. II

" mixed with the Gentiles," but now " in these last
days " gathered by the mysterious providence of
the House of Israel into the " new and everlasting
covenant."

In 1840, Apostle Orson Hyde performed the first,
mission to Jerusalem, and thirty-two years later this
second mission was appointed. Here is the com-
mission :

Salt Lake City, U. T.,

October 15, 1872.
Prest. G. A. Smith.

Dear Bro. : — As you are about to start on an
extensive tour through Europe and Asia Minor,,
where you will doubtless be brought in contact with
men of position and influence in society, we desire
that you observe closely what openings now exist,
or where they may be effected, for the introduction
of the gospel into the various countries you shall
visit.

When you go to the land of Palestine, we wish
you to dedicate and consecrate that land to the
Lord, that it may be blessed with fruitfulness pre-
paratory to the return of the Jews in fulfillment of
prophecy and the accomplishment of the purposes,
of our Heavenly Father.

We pray that you may be preserved to travel in
peace and safety ; that you may be abundantly
blessed with words of wisdom and free utterance in
all your conversations pertaining to the holy gospel,
dispelling prejudice and sowing seeds of righteous-
ness among the people.

Brigham Young,

Daniel H. Wells.

These missionaries from the modern to the
ancient Zion, visiting the President of the United

12 SUPPLEMENT.

States and President Thiers of France on their
way, reached Palestine in March, 1873. They
visited the most famous places of bible mention^
and also the places made famous by the exploits of
the crusaders. Concerning- their ceremony on the
Mount of Olives Eliza R. Snow wrote :

Sunday morning, March 2d, President Smith
made arrangements with our dragoman, and had a
tent, table, seats, and carpet taken up on the Mount
of Olives, to which all the brethren of the company
and myself repaired on horseback. After dismount-
ing on the summit, and committing our animals to
the care of servants, we visited the Church of
Ascension, a small cathedral, said to stand on the
spot from which Jesus ascended. By this time the
tent was prepared, which we entered, and after an
opening prayer by Brother Carrington, we united
in the order of the Holy Priesthood, President
Smith leading in humble, fervent supplication, dedi-
cating the land of Palestine for the gathering of the
Jews and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and returned
heartfelt thanks and gratitude to God for the
fulness of the gospel and the blessings bestowed on
the Latter-day Saints. Other brethren led in turn,
and we had a very interesting season; to. me it
seemed the crowning point of the whole tour, real-
izing as I did that we were worshiping on the sum-
mit of the sacred mount, once the frequent resort
of the Prince of Life.

The Jerusalem missionaries returned to Utah in
July, 1873.

Upon the death of Heber C. Kimball, the eleva-
tion of George A. Smith to the second place in the
Mormon Church, thus made vacant, was pronounced
by the people of his faith an honor worthily be-
stowed.

SUPPLEMENT. 1 3

The construction of the temple at St. George fur-
nished the occasion for this apostle to unite with
Brigham Young in the administration of ordinances
in " high places," thus fitly crowning the labors of
his life. On his tablet might thereafter be written
" It is finished."

Shortly after his return from St. George,- he was
prostrated with a sickness which finally resulted in
his death, September ist, 1875. Although, mortally
considered, he has passed away, in the hearts of the
Mormon people George A. Smith will never die.

GENERAL WELLS.

Daniel H. Wells, who in the history of Utah
has become famous as the lieutenant-general of the
Utah militia, mayor of Salt Lake City, and Second
Councilor of the Mormon Church, was born in
Trenton, Oneida County, New York, October 27th
1814.

His father, Daniel, served in the war with Great
Britain, in 181 2, and his mother, Catherine Chapin,
was the daughter of David Chapin, a revolutionary
soldier who served with General Washington.

His father died in 1826, when Daniel H. was but
1 2 years of age. When he was 18 the family, con-
sisting of his mother, himself and six sisters, sold
their estate in Trenton and removed to Ohio. In
the Spring following (1834), he settled at Commerce,
afterwards famous as Nauvoo. This was the year suc-
ceeding the Black Hawk War, and before Carthage,

14 SUPPLEMENT.

the county seat, was located. Ere he was 21 years
of age, he was elected constable, and soon after-
wards justice of the peace. He was also elected
second sergeant in the first organization of the
militia of the district ; and so great was the confi-
dence of all parties and sects, including the Catho-
lics, in his integrity and impartiality, that he was
often selected as arbitrator of differences between
neighbors, and administrator of the estates of de-
ceased persons. In politics he was a whig, and was
an influential member of many of the political con-
ventions of Hancock County, from its organization
to the time of the expulsion of the Mormons.

In 1839 ne became acquainted with the Mormons.
When they fled from, Missouri he was among the
foremost to welcome and give succor to the refu-
gees. That severe American spirit, for which he
has ever been marked was aroused to indignation
at witnessing the expulsion of free-born Ameri-
can citizens from a neighboring State, many of
whose forefathers, like his own, had helped to found
the nation, and to fight for its independence in
later generations. Indeed, it would seem, from the
tenor of his life, that the chain which at first bound
him to the Mormons was his uncompromising
Americanism and stern republican integrity, rather
than a sentimental sympathy with a religious sect,
or from any constitutional tendency to be carried
away by a love of the marvelous, which is popularly
supposed to have been the moving cause with the
majority of those who embraced the new faith.

When Nauvoo was organized, and charters were
granted by the Legislature of Illinois to the City,,

SUPPLEMENT. 1 5

University, and Nauvoo Legion, Daniel H. Wells
was elected alderman and member of the city coun-
cil, one of the regents of the university, and com-
missary-general on the staff of the major-general,
with the rank of brigadier-general. After the mur-
der of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, when the Gov-
ernor of the State of Illinois sent Lieutenant Aber-
nethy to demand the arms of the Legion, General
Wells protested against the order, as an infringe-
ment of his constitutional right to bear arms as a
member of the militia of the State. After the exo-
dus of the main body of the Mormon Church, under
the Twelve, and at the time the mob was gathering,
he became a member of the Church, and, six weeks
later, he took part' in the famous battle of Nauvoo,
— fighting for his religion, the freedom of his con-
science, and the rights of American citizens. In this
battle, Colonel Johnson having been taken sick, he

assisted Lieutenant-Colonel Cutler in the command

>

acting as the latter's aid-de-camp. During the
three days of the battle he was especially conspicu-
ous on his white horse, encouraging and directing
the men, and was often made a target by the
enemy.

On the surrender of Nauvoo, he resolved to go to
winter quarters, but was among the very last to
leave the doomed city. As the mob advanced,
coming down the street, only two blocks behind the
expelled citizens, Colonel Cutler and himself brought
up the rear of the refugees. On the other side of
the river they were met by a patrol guard, who
demanded their arms, which they refused to give
up, it being in violation of the treaty, which provided

1 6 SUPPLEMENT.

that the arms should be restored to the Mormons
as soon as they reached the Iowa side of the river.
From the portico of the temple the enemy fired
their cannon on the defenceless camp across the
river. Gathering up the balls he sent one of them,
with his compliments, to the Governor of Iowa,
whose Territory had been thus invaded. He then
took a one-horse buggy and rode day and night,
with Colonel Cutler, to the Mormon head-quarters,
to send back teams for the expelled remnant, to
whose rescue he soon returned. In the second
journey of the pioneers to the valleys he was aid-
de-camp to General Brigham Young.

Since that day, in the history of Utah, Daniel H.
Wells has figured among the most conspicuous, in
its great events and important places in the Church,
in the city and in the Territorial government. He
was a member of the Legislative council in the
Provisional State of Deseret, Superintendent of
Public Works, after the death of Jedediah M. Grant,
Second Councilor of the Church, and Lieut.-Gen.
of the Utah militia, which he commanded in the
" Utah war" in 1857-8. In 1864-5, he was Presi-
dent of the European Mission, and since then has
been Mayor of Salt Lake City a number of terms.
The reader will find the links of his history abund-
antly dispersed throughout the chapters of this
book.

Daniel H. Wells is a thorough American. His
loyal and stirring speech, stimulating the patriotism
of the Mormons soon after their entrance into the
Valley, which has been already given, is proof of his
ardent love of his native country and its institu-

SUPPLEMENT. I J

tions ; and he was very strong in his condemnation
of the late war upon the Union and the national
flag. His peculiar expression was that the South
shbuld have " wrapped the time-honored flag of
41 their country around them, and fought for their
" constitutional rights as we did ! " Daniel is the
author of that view. He remembers that he is the
direct descendant of the fourth Governor of Con-
necticut, and all through his life has aimed to be
worthy of his illustrious descent.

WILFORD WOODRUFF.

Wilford Woodruff, third son of Aphek Wood-
ruff and Beulah Thompson-Woodruff, was born
March ist, 1807, in that part of Farmington now
called Avon, Hartford County, Conn. His ancestors
for several generations, were also residents of that
section. Up to his twenty-first year he remained
at home, assisting his father in attending to the
Farmington Mills.

At a very early age his mind was considerably
exercised upon religious subjects, although in a
somewhat different view from that of the orthodox
teachings of those days. A notable point of differ-
ence was his firm conviction that the gifts and
graces that belonged to the ancient apostles ought
still to obtain among the true disciples of Jesus,
although the ministers of his acquaintance all
taught that such things had been done away. This
difference in belief caused him to hold aloof from

i8

SUPPLEMENT.

any espousal of particular doctrine until 1833, when
he, in company with his brother Azmon (being at
the time in Oswego Co., N. Y.), chanced to hear
two Mormon elders preach. A single sermon con-
vinced both him and his brother, and they thereupon
presented themselves for baptism.

Young Woodruff was an enthusiastic convert,
and soon gravitated to Kirtland, where he was
kindly received by, and temporarily domiciled with,
the Prophet Joseph. Surrounded by influences so
congenial to his natural cast of mind, his spiritual
nature developed rapidly, and in a few months' time
he had reached the point of joyfully accepting an
ordination as elder, and a commission to go on
mission. He had in the meantime removed to Clay
Co., Mo.

He straightway, in company with an elder by the
name of Brown, started out on a tour in which was
traversed a most desolate and perilous section of
country, viz. : southern Missouri, northern Arkansas,
and western Tennessee. It is worthy of note that
this journey (on foot) was made to embrace the
traversing of the Mississippi Swamp, a distance of
175 miles, most of the way in mud and water up to
their knees. Young Woodruff being stricken with
rheumatism in the midst of the swamp, his com-
panion abandoned him. But, kneeling in the water,
he cried to God for succor, and was immediately
healed. He thereupon continued his journey, and
in due time returned to his brethren.

His life thereafter was made up almost entirely
of mission work. In Jan., 1837, he was set apart to
be a member of the first quorum of Seventies, and

SUPPLEMENT. 1 9

remained for a while in Kirtland. Here, on the 13th
•of April of that year, he was married to Miss
Phoebe W. Carter, at the house of Joseph Smith.

Shortly thereafter he went on mission again, and
continued in that work until appointed a member
of the quorum of the Twelve. In the following
Fall, 1839, ne started on the mission to England.
(See record elsewhere.) His ministry in that
country was very successful.. During the seven
months of their labors in Herefordshire, Gloucester-
shire and Worcestershire, he and his confreres of
that mission baptized over eighteen hundred per-
sons, including over two hundred preachers of va-
rious denominations ; their success so greatly alarm-
ing the orthodox ministers of those localities, that
it was made the subject of a petition to Parliament.

Returning in 1841, he was shipwrecked on Lake
Michigan, but escaped with his life, and reached
Nauvoo in October of that year.

It is not the design of this sketch to give more
than a general view of this faithful apostle ; suffice
it to say, therefore, that he was on mission in the
Eastern States at the time of Joseph and Hyrums
martyrdom ; that he thereupon returned and promi-
nently participated in the events succeeding that
monstrous wrong; that he was a member of the
famous mission to England in 1844, remaining there
a year, and returning to join the exodus ; that he
was one of the 143 pioneers; that he again went
on mission to the Eastern States in 1848, returning
to Salt Lake in 1850; and in December of that /
year was elected a member of the Senate of the
Provisional State of Deseret.

20 SUPPLEMENT.

Since that time Apostle Woodruff has been one
of the very foremost in all the affairs at home. The
church history is mostly compiled from his journals,
and the success of his mission to England is to this
day a marvel in the Church. He is emphatically
one of the founders of Utah, and as an apostle well
deserves the name of " Wilford the Faithful."

LORENZO SNOW.

Lorenzo Snow, who has attained to considerable
distinction in the Mormon Church as an elder, and
to marked prominence as a successful utilizer of the
wise suggestions of President Young, in matters per-
taining to the local interests of the Saints in Utah,
was born April 3d, 18 14, in Mantua, Portage County,
Ohio. His father and mother were New England
born, being descended from the genuine Puritan
stock.

In childhood Lorenzo exhibited a decision of
character which has been conspicuously apparent in
subsequent life. After improving the best advan-
tages afforded in common schools, he went to
" Oberlin College " to complete his education.

Two of his sisters being residents of Kirtland>
Ohio, where the Latter-day Saints were then located,
on leaving college he went there on a visit, but
without the most distant thought of ever uniting his
interests with that people. However, on acquaint-
ance, he became convinced of the truth of the
doctrines they professed, was baptized, and soon

SUPPLEMENT. 2 1

ordained an elder, and sent forth " without purse or
scrip," to preach the gospel, like the disciples of old.

Like a veteran soldier constantly at his post, from
that time to this, Lozenzo Snow has been an active
missionary in the cause he espoused, — either at home
or abroad, wherever his labors were required, — hav-
ing performed several missions in this as well as in
foreign countries.

In 1837, with his father's family, he moved to
Daviess County, Missouri, and the next Spring,
when he was filling a mission in the South, his
people were driven from Missouri into Illinois,
where he joined them, and, after performing a mis-
sion to the Eastern States in 1840, he was sent on
his first mission to Europe. In England he suc-
ceeded his predecessors in the presidency of the
London conference, and after the Twelve had left
England, he acted as councilor to Parley P. Pratt,
who presided over the European mission.

A pamphlet entitled " The only Way to be Saved,"
which Elder Snow published while on this mission,
has been translated into every language, where the
fullness of the gospel has been preached under the
Mormon dispensation.

At the close of this mission of nearly three years,
he took charge of a large company of Saints, with
whom he safely landed in Nauvoo, via New Or-
leans and the Mississippi river.

Inasmuch as some of its bitter opposers have
strenuously asserted that the introduction of the
practice of plural marriage was subsequent to the
death of the great founder of Mormonism, we will
here transcribe from Lorenzo Snow's Journal an
entry which should settle that controversy :

2 2 SUPPLEMENT. .

Soon after my arrival in the city of Nauvoo, a ?
private interview was accorded me by President
Joseph Smith, in which he explained the doctrine
of plural or celestial marriage — said it was made
known to him by revelation from God, by whom he
had been commanded to introduce the sacred order
by taking more wives. At the same time he in-
formed me that my sister, Eliza R. Snow, had been
sealed to him in this relationship by* the authority
of that priesthood which is recognized in the
heavens.

« In the winter of 1845-6 he, with his family, crossed
the Mississippi, and joined the mass of pilgrims from
their beautiful city, in that strange and eventful
exodus of the nineteenth century, " From the Land
"of the Free and the home of the brave" (!) ; stayed
in Pisgah until the Spring of 1847, when, taking
charge of a train of one hundred wagons, he arrived
in Salt Lake valley in the autumn following. The
next winter he was ordained into the quorum of the
Twelve, and in the ensuing autumn called to go to
Italy to introduce and establish the gospel in that
land ; his mission also extended to other nations
and countries wherever opportunity should present.

, After an absence of nearly three years he returned
home via Malta, Gibraltar, Liverpool and New
York, and in the following autumn was elected
a member of the Utah Legislature.

The next mission of importance was to locate,
fifty families in Box Elder County, sixty miles north
of Salt Lake City, where a small settlement had
been formed, which, for want of the right master-
spirit, had lost every vestige of enterprise, and was
minus all aim in the direction of advancement. To

SUPPLEMENT. ; 23

diffuse active energies into this stereotyped con-
dition of things, was riot unlike raising the dead,
and a man of less strength of purpose would have
faltered. Not so the one in question. He went to
work, laid out a city, naming it " Brigham," in honor
of the President of the Church, moved his family to
the new city, and thus laid the foundation for the
great financial co-operative enterprise that he has
there built up.

When the county was organized, by the authority
of the Legislature he took the presidency, as a
Stake of Zion, which position he still holds. He
was elected member of the Legislative Council to
represent the district composed of the counties of
Box Elder and Weber, and yet serves in that
capacity.

A few years ago, with Elders E. T. Benson and
J. F. Smith, he visited the Sandwich Islands on im-
portant matters relative to the interests of the
Saints on those islands.

But the great work designed to bring into exer-
cise the gigantic powers, and exhibit this entirely
devoted man in the higher plane of practical en-
gineering as an organizer, statesman and financier,
was yet to come.

Prompt to the suggestions of Pres't Young, in an
order designed to firmly cement the bonds of union
among the Saints, thereby laying a, foundation for
mutual self-support and independence, through a
combination of temporal as well as spiritual inter-
ests, on a general co-operative basis, Hercules like,
Lorenzo put his shoulder to the wheel, and,
although he saw at a glance the magnitude of the

24 SUPPLEMENT.

undertaking — that it required almost superhuman
skill, and the labor of years, his duty was the watch-
word, and success the ultimatum. Present results
show that no difficulties were too great for him to
encounter.

His first step in the co-operative movement was
in the mercantile line. In 1863-4 he commenced
by establishing a co-operative store, with stock in
shares of $5.00, thus making it possible for people
of very moderate circumstances to become share-
holders.

Many difficulties occurred in the start, and the
progress was slow, but it steadily gained in the con-
fidence of the people, the stockholders realizing
from twenty to twenty-five per cent, per annum, in
merchandise, and in five years it was an acknowl-
edged success. Then, aided by the profits from the
mercantile department, an extensive tannery was
erected at a cost of ten thousand dollars ; the
people having the privilege of putting in labor as
capital ; and soon after these departments were in
successful operation, a woolen factory, at a cost of
nearly forty thousand dollars, was brought into
working order, again taking labor as stock.

A co-operative sheep-herd, for supplying the fac-
tory, was soon added — then co-operative farms, and
to these a cheese dairy. Thus one department of
industry after another has been established, until ,
now between thirty and forty departments are com-
bined — all working harmoniously like the wheels
of a grand piece of machinery.

Their last year's report stated that there were
about five hundred stockholders, with a capital of
one hundred and forty thousand dollars.

SUPPLEMENT 25

In 1872 he accompanied Pres't Geo. A. Smith on
a tour through Europe, Egypt, Greece and Pales-
tine. While in Vienna, on his return, he received
information of his appointment as Assistant Coun-
cilor to Pres't Young.

As a missionary he has traveled over one hundred
and fifty thousand miles. Probably none of his
compeers have been longer in the field, or traveled
more, in preaching the gospel among the nations of
the earth.

HON. W. H. HOOPER.

William Henry Hooper is the son of Henry
Hooper and Mary Noel Price. He was born at the
old homestead known as Warwick Manor, Dor-
chester County, Eastern Shore, Maryland, December
25th, 1813.

His father, who died when Mr. Hooper was three
years of age, was of English descent, while his.
mother, as her name would indicate, was of Scotch
extraction.

Becoming a clerk in a store at the age of 14, his
mercantile experience may be said to have begun at
that time, and his subsequent life has been substan-
tially a pursuit of the calling indicated by that
event.

From that humble beginning he gradually rose
to the attainment of considerable prominence as a
merchant, and, in the year 1836, we find him a
member of the firm of " Hooper, Peck & Scales," of

26 SUPPLEMENT.

Galena, Illinois, afterwards well known upon the
frontiers as merchants, miners and smelters, as well
as being considerably concerned in steamboat in-
terests. It was during this year that he married his
first wife, Miss Electa Jane Harris, by whom he
had two daughters, both of whom are now dead, as
is also their mother, who died in 1844.

The affairs of this firm becoming involved in the
crash of '38, the business was duly closed up, and
Mr. Hooper, for a time, became interested in steam-
boating upon the Mississippi, and also in steamboat
building. His ventures in this line, however, in
consequence of certain accidents and disasters, did
not prove remunerative, and in the Spring of 1850
he emigrated to Salt Lake City, under an engage-
ment with Holliday & Warner, merchants.' This
•event, small as it may appear, changed the whole
phase of his future life. Although thinking to soon
again embark in another steamboat venture, his
health was so much improved by his stay in Salt
Lake that he abandoned the idea, and remained
with Holliday & Warner.

In December, '52, he married Miss Mary Ann
Knowlton, his present wife, by whom he has had
nine children, seven of whom are now living. In
1853, and while in company with Holliday &
Warner, he went to California with a large adven-
ture of cattle, horses, flour, &c. The latter he
disposed of to a large company of emigrants on the
road. While in California he sold his interest in
the concern to Holliday & Warner, and, in com-
pany with four other men, returned to Salt Lake,
with pack animals, in the Fall, reaching the city in

SUPPLEMENT. 2 J

the month of December. This journey was at-
tended with great danger, the country being infested
with hostile Indians from where Virginia City, Ne-
vada, now stand, to the settlements of Utah, a dis-
tance of 700 miles.

In '54 he embarked in mercantile pursuits, and in
'55 was elected a member of the State convention
to frame a constitution for the State of Deseret. In
'56, he was appointed by Gov. Brigham Young sec-
retary pro tent of the Territory, to fill the place
made vacant by the death of Almon W. Babbitt,
This position he held until '58.

As we have seen, coming to Utah changed the
course of Mr. Hoopers life, and turned the fates in
his favor ; for in 1859 he was elected delegate from
Utah to the 36th Congress of the United States.
His record in Congress has been given elsewhere.
Undoubtedly his extensive acquaintance and asso-
ciation with public men from early life had much to
do in protecting and preserving the interests of the
people, whom, as their representative, he so long
and faithfully served.

Since his return to private life, Mr. Hooper has
been engaged in the successful pursuit of mercantile
enterprises.

HON. GEORGE Q. CANNON.

George Q. Cannon was born in Liverpool,.
England, on the nth of January, 1827. His parents
joined the Mormons when he was 12 years of age.
Previously, however, his fathers sister left England,

2& SUPPLEMENT.

for Canada, as a companion to the wife of the Sec-
retary of the colony, but with the intention of re-
turning. While in Canada, however, she met Elder
John Taylor, then a Methodist minister, whose wife
she afterwards became.

At this time Elder Parley P. Pratt was on mis-
sion to Canada, preaching the doctrines of Mor-
monism, to which Mr. Taylor and wife were soon
converted. Mr. Taylor having been chosen one of
the Twelve Apostles of the Mormon Church,
visited England in 1839, as a Mormon missionary j
wrhere he first made the acquaintance of hisbrother-
in law, Mr. Cannon's father, whom, with his wife and
family he succeeded in baptizing into the Mormon
church. Mr. Cannon states that " As soon as my
*' mother saw Mr. Taylor, and before she knew he
" was a religious man, she said, 'he is a man of
" ' God/ "

The headquarters of the Mormon Church was
then at Nauvoo, to which place the new converts
were very desirous to emigrate, but active opera-
tions in that direction were for some time delayed
on account of Mrs. Cannon having strong premo-
nitions that she would not reach " Zion." These were
supported by certain analogous dreams by Mr
Cannon, all of which were literally fulfilled in the
death of Mrs: Cannon while crossing the Atlantic
ocean. The rest of the family reached Nauvoo in
safety.

Two months after the massacre of Joseph and
Hyrum Smith, Mr. Cannon's father left Nauvoo on
a business tour to St. Louis, and, while there, died*
leaving seven orphan children.

SUPPLEMENT. .29

After reaching Nauvoo, George Q., then but a
lad, went to work in the office of the Nauvoo Neigh-
bor, and Times and Seasons, where he learned the
printing business.

In 1847 young Cannon crossed the plains with
the emigrants, and, during the winter following, and
up to the Fall of 1849, ne was engaged in house
building, farming operations, canyon work, adobe
making, and other labor incident to the settlement
of a new country.

In the Fall of '49 he accompanied Apostle Charles
C. Rich to California, where he worked in the gold
mines until the Summer of 1850, when he, with five
others, was called to go on a mission to the Sand-
wich Islands. They sailed from San Francisco, and
after a three weeks' voyage, landed at Honolulu, on
the 1 2th of December of that year. Mr. Cannon
acquired the Hawaiian language very rapidly, and,
after being there six weeks, he started out to travel
among, and preach to, the natives. In a few months
he succeded in organizing branches of the Church
in various places.

While there he translated the Book of Mormon
into the Hawaiian language, and with the other
missionaries made arrangements for the purchase
of a press and printing materials necessary for its
publication.

He returned to Salt Lake Valley in the winter
of '54. In 1855 he went on mission to California
and established a printing office and a newspaper,
the Western Standard, of which he was editor.

The news of what is known as the " Utah war "
reached California in '57, and Mr. Cannon soon

o

O SUPPLEMENT.

after returned to Salt Lake to take part in the
defence.

In April, 1858, the abandonment of Salt Lake
commenced, and Mr. Cannon was appointed to take
the press and printing materials belonging to the
Deseret News to Fillmore City, where he published
that paper from April to September of that year.

He was then sent on mission to the Eastern
States, which duty he performed until he received
an official notification that he had been elected on
the 23d of October, '59, as one of the Twelve
Apostles, to act in the place made vacant by the
death of Parley P. Pratt. In the Fall of i860 he
returned to Salt Lake City, where he remained six
weeks, during which time he was called to fill a
mission to England. He was appointed to take
charge of the emigration in Europe, and of the
Millennial Star office ; and to act as president of
the European Mission.

In May, '62, he received a despatch to the effect
that he had been elected United States Senator by
the Legislature of the inchoate State of Deseret,
and was requested to join Mr. Hooper in Washing-
ton early in June, which he did.

Both Senators-elect labored diligently in Wash-
ington to get Utah admitted into the Union as
a State during the remainder of that session of
Congress.

Upon the adjournment of Congress Mr. Cannon
returned to England where he labored with marked
success until August, '64, when he returned home,
having, while in England, shipped upwards of 13,000
souls, as Latter-day Saints, for Utah.

SUPPLEMENT. 3 1

For three years after his return to Salt Lake he
acted as private secretary to President Brigham
Youne, havinof been elected in the mean time a
member of the legislative council. In the Fall of
'67 he took charge of the Deseret News, — then pub-
lished semi-weekly, — as its editor and publisher.
He immediately commenced the publication of the
Deseret Evening News (daily), and his connection
with that paper continued until the Fall of 1872,
when he was elected Delegate to Congress, which
position he still fills, to the credit of himself and
the satisfaction of his constituency.

BISHOP HUNTER.

Edward Hunter, Presiding Bishop of the Mor-
mon Church, was born in Newtown, Delaware
County, Pennsylvania, June 22d, 1793. He was the
son of Edward and Hannah Hunter, of the same
county and State. His great grandfather, John
Hunter, was from the north of England, and served
under William of Orange, as a lieutenant in the
cavalry, at the battle of the Boyne.

Edward Hunter, sen., the father of the Bishop,
was a man of standing in the State of Pennsylvania,
holding the office of Justice of the Peace in Dela-
ware County for forty years.

On the mother's side was Robert Owen, of North
Wales, who, on the restoration of Charles II., re-
fused to take the oath of allegiance, for which he
was imprisoned. He subsequently came to America

32 SUPPLEMENT.

and purchased property near Philadelphia. His son
George was early in life called to the public service,
being elected to the Legislature of his- native State,
and during his lifetime holding many posts of trust,
among which was that of Sheriff of Chester and
Delaware Counties. The Owens family were
Quakers, and from them the Mormon Bishop has
inherited many of his religious and character traits.

He was brought up as a regular farmer and given
a thorough farmer's education. His father was in
the habit of causing him to read, as a constant les-
son in his education, the declaration of independ-
ence, which so impressed his imagination that in his
ardent enthusiasm he would affirm to his father
that it was surely written by the inspiration of God,
and his father would reply, with something of pro-
phetic solemnity, " Edward, it is too good for a
" wicked world." Among his father's constant in-
structions to him were the admonitions that he
should sustain the principle of worshiping God
according to the dictates of conscience ; that men
should rise in life by merit only ; that he must never
fail in business to the putting of himself within the
power of wicked men ; and, as a comprehensive rule
in life, to "be invited up but never ordered down ;"
all of which he has aimed to regard most religiously.

Edward Hunter, sen., was, for many years, a
justice of the peace, and in his native State was
known as a man of marked character and integrity ;
and on his death his son, though only twenty-two
years of age, was proffered his father's office, but
would not accept it on account of his youth. He
was also offered the certain election as representa-

SUPPLEMENT. 33

tive in the Legislature of Pennsylvania on the pop-
ular side — the old Federals — but refused, he being
a Democrat, which political preference he has faith-
fully maintained ever since.

When about thirty years of age he removed to
Chester County, where he purchased over five hun-
dred acres of farming land, about thirty miles from
Philadelphia, which he brought under the highest
cultivation, and became noted as one of the best
graziers in that country. Here, in 1839, ne was
visited by three Mormon elders, but though they
made their home at his house, he did not come into
the Mormon Church until the succeeding year
Both himself and his father before him had main-
tained a conscientious independence of the sectarian
churches. Going, however, one evening, a distance
from the neighborhood to a place called Locust
Grove, to affirm in behalf of a certain Mormon
elder the sacred right of liberty of conscience, he
made a decided stand in defence of the new faith.
The trustee of the school having first challenged
the elder for his views on the gospel, and then
assaying to crowd him from the stand by his local
influence, the honest farmer indignantly arose and
maintained the elders right to preach the gospel
uninterrupted. As it was known that Hunter em-
ployed a good lawyer, and had the best character
end the most money of any man in the country
around, he carried the day for the Mormon preacher.
At night, however, sleep was interrupted by the
question uppermost in his mind, " Are these men
" the servants of God ? " Addressing the question
to heaven, u immediately a light appeared in his

">

4 SUPPLEMENT.

room, from the overpowering glory of which he hid
his face. This was his first testimony to the Mor-
mon work.

Soon after this the Mormon prophet, — having
visited Washington to invoke President Van
Buren's protection of the Mormons who had just
been driven out of Missouri, — returned by way of
Pennsylvania, and stopped at Mr. Hunters house.
While there his host, who had been for many years
interested in Swedenborgianism, asked the Prophet
if he was acquainted with that doctrine, and what
was his opinion of its founder, to which he replied :
" I verily believe Emanuel Swedenborg had a view
" of the world to come, but for daily food he
11 perished." This visit was in 1839, ^ ut Mr. Hun-
ter was not baptized into the Mormon Church until
October of the following year, when the ordinance
was administered to him by Apostle Orson Hyde,
who was then on his way to Jerusalem.

The summer after his baptism he " gathered " to
Nauvoo, and purchased a farm of the Prophet. His
wealth did much to endow the Church, for he do-
nated thousands to the " Trustee-in-Trust," and for
the assistance of the poor. He assisted the Church
to the amount of fifteen thousand dollars during
the first year, until Joseph told him, in the " name
11 of the Lord," he had done enough.

Bishop Hunter was with his people in their exo-
dus from Nauvoo, and entered the Valley with the
first companies after the pioneers. Soon afterwards,
on the death of Newel K. Whitney, he became the
presiding bishop of the Church.

Great hearted and childlike, he is beloved by all,

SUPPLEMENT. 35

and his odd, rich sayings are as household words
among his people.

BISHOP SHARP.

John Sharp, the " Railroad Bishop," is not only
a Scotchman by birth; but is of unmixed Scotch
descent. He was born in the Devon Ironworks,
Scotland, November 9th, 1820, and was sent into a
coalpit to work when but eight years of age.

In 1847 Mormonism found him in Clackmannan-
shire, still engaged as a coal miner. The Mormon
gospel was brought to this quarter by William
Gibson, one of the first Scotch elders sent out, — a
man who obtained notoriety in the British mission
as an orator and an able disputant. This elder
converted the Sharp brothers (there were three of
them) to the faith, and in 1848 they left Scotland
for America. They landed in New Orleans, came
up the Mississippi to St. Louis, where they lived
until the Spring of 1850, and then took up their
line of march for Salt Lake City.

The date of his arrival, August 28th, 1850, makes
John Sharp one of the earlier settlers of Utah, and
the sphere that he has filled so many years, properly
classes him amoncr the " founders." He first went to
work in the church quarry, getting out stone for
the " Old Tabernacle" and Tithing Office, and next
was made the superintendent of the quarry. Under
his direction the stone for the public works, the
foundation of the temple, and the massive wall

o

6 SUPPLEMENT.

around the temple block, was got out ; and it must
be understood that in those days the quarrying and
hauling of those huge blocks of granite was no in-
different undertaking. The church quarry is 18
miles from the city, and the rock, of course, had to
be hauled by oxen, and the men employed directly
or indirectly on tithing account. The numerous
difficulties which the superintendents of the Church
works have had to grapple with, in raising teams
upon the tithing offerings, the employment of reg-
ular hands, and the finding of means generally to
carry on the public works, are not easily imagined,
unless one can fancy what the national income would
mean if paid in flour, molasses, potatoes, squashes,
and the like, and distributed afterwards for the
national service.

In 1854 he was ordained by President Young as
the Bishop of the Twentieth Ward. It had been
at its organization coupled with the Eighteenth
Ward, under Bishop Lorenzo Young ; but substan-
tially Bishop Sharp is the founder of the Twentieth
Ward. It grew up under him, and soon became
known as one of the most liberal and intellectual
wards in the city.

In 1864 Bishop Sharp was appointed Assistant
Superintendent of the Public Works, and when
President Daniel H. Wells went to England to take
charge of the European mission, he was the Acting
Superintendent until his return. In '68 he became
a sub-contractor under Brigham Young on the
Union Pacific Railroad. Under this contract Sharp
& Young did the heavy stone work of the bridge
abutments, and the cutting of the tunnels of Weber

SUPPLEMENT. 37

Canyon. In this work they employed from five to
six hundred men, and the contract amounted to
about a million of dollars. Afterwards, during the
strife between the Union Pacific and the Central
Pacific, the Bishop took another contract for Sharp
& Young, on the Union Pacific, on which he em-
ployed four or five hundred men,- the contract
amounting to $100,000. In the difficulties of the
settlement between President Young and the U. P.
Co., John Sharp, John Taylor and Joseph A. Young
were chosen to go to Boston to bring the business
to an issue. So vigorously, yet prudently, did they
press the matter with Durant and others that, in
the lack of the company's funds, Brigham got
600,000 dollars' worth of railroad material, iron and
rolling stock, which was used in the construction
of the Utah Central. After the building of that
line, Joseph A. Young was made its superintendent,
and he was followed by Ferezmore Little, but Sharp
succeeded them in 1871, and in 1873 was a ^ so a P~
pointed its president as well as superintendent. In
the organization of the Utah Southern in 1870, he
was elected Vice-President. He went east as the
purchasing agent for this company, and becoming
extensively associated with the Union Pacific di-
rectors, was finally elected one of them. He is a
man of pronounced character, and of much capacity,
particularly of the practical quality. This has been
shown in his career. He has a very common-sense
type of mind, — is, in fact, a h man of the world,"
notwithstanding he is a bishop

Coming from a coalpit in Scotland, and rising to
his position as a bishoa in the Church, a president

2>& SUPPLEMENT.

and superintendent of railroads, and one of the
directors of the Union Pacific, John Sharp may
well be pronounced a " self-made man."

BISHOP BUDGE.

William Budge, one of the presiding bishops
over the Stakes of Zion, is a Scotchman by birth.
Bishop Sharp, David V. Calder, Judge Pyper, and
Bishop Budge may be taken as fair representatives,
in the Mormon Church, of the Scotch nationality.

Bishop Sharp we have styled the Railroad
Bishop; William Budge, on the other hand, is a
missionary man, having been one of the founders
of foreign missions.

He was born in Lanark, Lanarkshire, Scotland,
May ist, 1828. Like nearly all of the Mormon
elders, he is from the working class ; therefore a
self-made man.

In 1848, when at the age of twenty, he embraced
Mormonism, and at twenty-one became a local
preacher. In the Spring of 1851 he was sent as a
missionary to the North of England to build up
new branches of the Church. In the Fall of the
same year he was sent to the West of Scotland, but
shortly afterwards to the West of England, where
he labored two years, baptizmg in and around
Southampton quite a number of converts. From
Southampton he was sent to Norwich, and then to
the classical city of Cambridge, to leave tracts with,

SUPPLEMENT, 39

/■

and expound the scriptures to, the students of the
University.

From Cambridge Elder Budge was commissioned
to go to Switzerland at the beginning of the year
1854. Although understanding simply the rudi-
ments of the German language before he left Eng-
land, in less than three months he was preaching in
German.

But on nearly every part of the continent of
Europe, excepting Scandinavia, the elders found it
almost impossible to make inroads. They were
often imprisoned, at the instigation of priests, for
* preaching the gospel," — and so in Switzerland,
within three months, Elder Budge was subjected to
examination and imprisonment thirteen times. He
was ultimately banished from the country ; but he
wrote to the British minister at Bern, claiming the
protection of a British subject, he having a passport
signed by Lord Clarendon, then Home Secretary.
Proceedings against him were stopped, and the
minister sent for his passport and further explana-
tion of the case. The elder explained as the proba-
ble cause that he was a Mormon missionary. The
minister replied with quite a sermon on " that
" abominable sect," and advised the elder, though
reluctantly, to leave the country, the British con-
science being pricked in not standing by Her
Majesty's subject.

The elder left Zurich, and returned to England,
where he labored a while, traveling through the
conferences of Bedfordshire, Cambridge and Nor-
wich, and then was sent to Dresden, Saxony, in
September, 1855. Here everything had to be done

40 SUPPLEMENT.

with the strictest secrecy, the law expressly forbid-
ding the propagation of any faith excepting Catho-
lic, Jewish, and a certain established Protestantism.
But notwithstanding the strict espionage and pass-
port system, Elder Budge was enabled to build up
a lar^e branch of his Church, amonof the members
of which were Carl G. Masser and Edward Schon-
field, both employed as teachers in government
schools. Professor Masser has since been one of
the founders of education in Utah, and is now the
Principal of the Provo University, an institution
lately endowed by President Young.

Towards the close of 1855, Elder Budge returned
to England, and labored in the great London con-
ference, of which he soon became president. This
position he held for about two years, when he was
elevated to the rank of second councilor of the
presidency of the European mission, in the Spring
of 1858, when all the American elders were called
home in consequence of the Utah war. He was
also made pastor of the Birmingham pastorate,
which was second only to that of London, incor-
porating four conferences.

In the summer of i860 Elder Budge emigrated,
arriving in Salt Lake City. October 5th, and settled
in Farmington. In the Fall of 1863 he was or-
dained a bishop, under the hands of President
Young, and sent to Providence, Cache Valley, and
in the Summer of 1870 he was sent by the President
to Paris, the capital of Bear Lake Co., Idaho, to pre-
side as a bishop over that " Stake of Zion," — consist-
ing of sixteen settlements.

This presiding bishop has never in his' life been

SUPPLEMENT. 4 1

before a council of the Church, either as the accused
or the accuser, which at once shows his rectitude
and Christian tolerance. He has been an energetic
laborer for his Church, both in Europe and in
" Zion," and is decidedly a civilizing man. Now that
the first work of settling is done, Utah needs
bishops over all her wards, settlements, and stakes,
of the class of William Budge.

JUDGE SMITH.

Elias Smith, the chief and best representative
of Mormon jurisprudence in the history of Utah to
the present date, is first cousin of the Prophet and
founder of the Mormon Church. His father, Asahel,
was the brother of Joseph Smith, "First Patriarch"
of the Church, the father of the " Prophet Joseph."

Judge Smith was born September 6th, 1804, in
Royalton, Windsor County, Vermont, near Sharon,,
where his cousin, the Prophet, was born. In 1809
his father emigrated to the town of Stockholm, St.
Lawrence County, New York. There Elias was
raised in the wilderness, with but few opportunities
for schooling. Most of his knowledge was acquired
by observation and " study without a master."

The announcement of the mission of the Prophet
and the rapid growth and strange career of the
" Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," very
naturally drew into the faith several of the best
branches of the Smith family. The famous apostle,
George A. Smith, who was decidedly one of the

42 SUPPLEMENT.

very greatest men of the Mormon dispensation, was
a missionary of the Church at the age of 16, but his
elder cousin Elias was 31 years of age when he em-
braced the faith. His mind was well-matured, for
he had been already ten years in public life.

Having embraced " Mormonism," he removed
from New York State, in 1836, to Kirtland, Ohio,
where the Mormons were then gathering ; thence
he removed to Missouri, in 1838, settling in Cald-
well County, and was among the disciples expelled
from that State. Illinois becoming, after this, the
gathering place of the Saints, he Med with them
there, but finally settled, for several years, in Lee
County, Iowa ; then he returned to Nauvoo, which
by this time had become famous as the second Zion
of the Mormon people.

At Nauvoo he was associated with the press as
business manager of the Times and Seasons and the
Nattvoo Neighbor. After the martyrdom of his
cousins Joseph and Hyrum, he followed the leader-
ship of Brigham Young, as did also the Apostle
George A. Smith, with his father John, who was
now the Chief Patriarch of the Church. Thus, not-
withstanding that Emma, first wife of the Prophet,
with her sons and " Mother Lucy " Smith, remained
at Nauvoo with the relics of their martyred dead,
the surviving leaders of the Smith family were with
the Saints in their exodus, and are among the
founders of Utah. The sons of Hyrum Smith also
came with the people to build up with them the
religious fabric which the blood of their father and
uncle had sanctified.

With his family he took up the pioneer journey

SUPPLEMENT. 43

from Nauvoo in May, 1846, intending to go with
the body of the Church to the Rocky Mountains
that year, but the call of the Mormon battalion
soon afterwards hindering this, he sojourned awhile
in Iowaville, Van Buren Co., Iowa. In 1851 he
emigrated to Utah, and soon after was elected, by
the Legislature, Probate Judge of Salt Lake County,
in which office he has been continued up to the
present time. His terms of office have ranged
from four years to one, and he now holds office by
election from the people. In 1852 he was also ap-
pointed one of a Code Commission of three, with
Albert Carrington and William Snow, he being
chairman. Their duty was to present to that legis-
lature of pioneers, unskilled in legal science, those
laws best adapted to the peculiar condition and
character of the people ; and whatever may be
the criticism of the lawyers of to-day upon their
work, undoubtedly these men acted with strict
fidelity, and with the most conscientious intentions.
Judge Smith has eminently filled the most im-
portant judicial sphere in Utah, the Probate Courts
being, until the McKean period, practically the
Courts of Justice for the people. Indeed, he is
known in all the acts of his life, and in his essential
character and quality of mind, to be conscientious,
in the highest degree. It is not in his nature to
administer unrighteously ; and in the peculiar case
of Utah, with Gentile and Mormon in chronic con-
flict, that quality of mind and judgment has had
ample opportunity to manifest itself. In this quality
of justice his peer was Daniel Spencer, who occu-
pied an office in the Church. analogous to that of

44 SUPPLEMENT.

Chief Justice of the State, and to whose Ecclesias-
tical Court, — the High Council, — Gentiles have in
the early days repeatedly taken their cases for arbi-
tration in preference to " going to law " either in
the Federal, or Probate Courts. Elias Smith and
Daniel Spencer may therefore be offered to the
Gentile reader as the proper types of the judges of
Mormon Israel.

Besides his judicial sphere, Judge Smith has filled
other important callings. He was business manager
of the Deseret News, under Dr. Richards, in the
early rise of journalism and literature in the West,
and was Postmaster of Salt Lake City from July,
1854, until the army came in 1858. In 1859 ne
became editor of the Deseret News, retaining the
position until September, 1863, when he was suc-
ceeded by Albert Carrington ; since which time he
has exclusively confined himself to his judicial duties.
In '62 he was a member of the Constitutional Con-
vention, and one of the committee who drafted the
Constitution for the State. His general history is
the history of his people. While in his private
capacity he is universally respected, in his public
sphere he may also be said to be without an enemy,
notwithstanding he has so long administered law
and equity.

MAYOR LITTLE.

Ferezmore Little was born in Cayuga County,
New York, June 14th, 1820. His father, Jam.es
Little, died a few years thereafter, and his mother,

SUPPLEMENT.

45

whose maiden name was Susan Young (a sister of
President. Brigham Young), died in Salt Lake City, .
May 5th, 1852.

After the death of his father, his mother, with
the balance of the family, moved west, leaving him
in the care of a family with whom he was living at
the time of their departure. He remained in the
State of New York until in his 2 2d year, when he
also moved west, arriving in Illinois in the Summer
of 1842.

In 1843 ne w ^ nt to St. Louis, where he remained
until the Spring of 1859, in which year he emigrated
to Salt Lake City.

In the year 1846 he went from St. Louis to Nau-
voo, where he was married to Miss Fanny M.
Decker, youngest daughter of Isaac Decker, and on
his return to St. Louis with his wife, three days
afterwards, he crossed the Mississippi River on the
same boat with Brigham Young, when he made his
final exit from Nauvoo.

He moved to Salt Lake in 1850, but did not join
the Mormon Church until 1853.

His first business ventures in Utah were in con-
nection with the U. S. mail service, across the
plains, which he had more or less to do with for
several years.

In 1854-5 he superintended the construction of
the Big Cottonwood Canyon Wagon Road, and the
erection of five saw mills on the canyon stream,
and during the same period he also built the Terri-
torial Penitentiary. * '

In 1858 he superintended, the building of the
first passable wagon road in Provo Canyon. In

46 SUPPLEMENT.

1863 he went to Florence as emigration agent for
the Church, where he spent the whole Summer
superintending the outfitting of 500 wagons and
4,000 Latter-day Saint emigrants for Utah. In
February, 1864, in connection with President Brig-
ham Young, he purchased the Salt Lake City
House, himself becoming its proprietor for the suc-
ceeding seven years.

In 1868-9 he was engaged in railroad work on
the Union Pacific, and afterward became promi-
nently identified with the Utah Central and Utah
Southern.

In addition to his extensive connections, he is
also a stockholder in, and a director of, the Deseret
Bank, and at the last election in Salt Lake City was
elected Mayor.

Thus, in the past quarter of a century he has, by
industry and close application, worked himself from
comparative obscurity into a position of prominence^
trust and honor.

WILLIAM JENNINGS.

Decidedly one of the most marked of the com-
mercial men of Utah is William Jennings. He
was the son of Israel Jennings and Jane Thornton,
and was born at Yardley, near Birmingham, Worces-
tershire, England, September 13, 1823.

In that city his father was known as one of the
wealthiest of its butchers, who was some years ago
one. of the claimants in the famous Jennings chan-

SUPPLEMENT. 47

eery suit for the immense sum of several millions
of pounds sterling ; but without other results than
proving himself a lawful claimant to the estate, and
a branch of that aristocratic family.

In the year 1847 Mr. Jennings emigrated to
America, landing in New York early in October ;
after lookine around a few weeks he en^a^ed for
the Winter with a Mr. Taylor, from Manchester,
England, a pork packer, at a wage of six dollars per
week.

The next year he crossed the Alleghany Moun-
tains, by way of Cumberland and Wheeling, to Cin-
cinnati, thence to Chillicothe, Ohio. During that
year he was robbed of between four and five hun-
dred dollars, leaving him absolutely destitute.
Being in this reduced condition, he next engaged
as a journeyman butcher at a small salary.

Leaving Ohio in March, 49, he went to St. Louis,,
but finding that place unsuited to his purposes, he
left in April for St. Joseph, where he engaged to
work for one Gawey, to trim bacon ; but afterwards
went at butchering a^ain. In the Fall of the same"
year he was seized with cholera, which prostrated
him four weeks, at the expiration of which time he
found himself penniless, and two hundred dollars in
debt.

Although broken down by sickness, and robbed
of his money, his grit, backed by strong commercial
ambitions, was unconquerable, and he soon brought
to his assistance a benevolent Roman Catholic
priest, whose name was " Lealan," and from him
obtained the loan of $50, with which he set to work,
relieved himself of his liabilities, and laid the foun-

48 SUPPLEMENT.

dation upon which he has since amassed an immense
fortune.

In the year '49, and while in St. Joseph, he mar-
ried Miss Jane Walker, a Mormon emigrant girl.
The following Spring they crossed the plains en
route to Utah, arriving in Salt Lake City in the
Fall. Shortly after his arrival he joined the Mor-
mon Church, subsequently becoming a polygarnist,
and marrying his second wife, with whom he is
still living, — his first wife having died May 10, 1871,
after bearing him eleven children. His present
wife has borne him thirteen children, — making
twenty-four children by his two wives.

In the Spring of '55 he added to his butcher
business, which he had established on his arrival in
Salt Lake, — a tannery. This business was as grand
a success for the country as it was remunerative to
himself.

In '56 he was called on a mission to Carson
Valley, where he remained sixteen months ; but
ever anxious to be self-sustaining and independent
in the world, he started butchery in connection with
his mission, supplying the mining camps in that
region with meat. He also cut loers from the sur-
rounding mountains, with which he built a substan-
tial house. In the Summer of '57 he returned to
Salt Lake, where he found the people much excited
over the Buchanan expedition, but in spite of the
fact that Johnston's army was marching on Utah;
for the avowed purpose of " wiping out ' the
4i Mormons," he set to work and built a large
butchers shop, at a cost. of $1,000, on the site where
the eagle emporium now stands. . , ;

SUPPLEMENT. 49

In the Spring of '58 he joined in the general
exodus of the Saints, and took his family and house-
hold effects to Provo ; but continued his business in
Salt Lake City.

After the return of the Saints to their homes, he
purchased, in i860, some $40,000 worth of dry
goods of Mr. Solomon Young, and started in the
mercantile business.

The following year he was engaged in supplying
telegraph poles for the line between Salt Lake and
Ruby Valley. The same year he went to San
Francisco to purchase merchandise, traveling to
Sacramento, a distance of 800 miles, by stage.

In the year 1863, in conjunction with his mer-
chandising, he carried on a banking and brokers
business. In fact, he was the first of Salt Lake's
merchants to buy and ship Montana gold dust. He
was also owner of the first steam planing mill in
Utah.

In '64 he built the Eagle Emporium, a large
and substantial stone building, in which he did
a business amounting to $2,000,000 per annum,
—thus making himself the leading merchant of the
western country.

During the same year he assisted in organizing
the Utah Central R. R. Company, himself becoming
its Vice-President, and remaining as such at the
present time. He also took part in organizing
the Utah Southern R. R., and succeeded President
Bricrham Young- as its President, and is still holding-
that position. At a later period he became one of
the founders and directors of the Deseret National
Bank. •• - -

50 SUPPLEMENT.

He was elected a member of the Territorial
Legislature under Governor Dotys administration,
who also gave him his commission as lieut.-colonel
of the Nauvoo Legion of the militia of Utah.
;, Mr. Jennings, being a strong believer in the prin-
ciple of self-insurance, adopted this method of pro-
tecting himself against losses at an early period
after his business transactions in Utalv warranted
such protection, using cattle as a basis. The amount
he would have had to pay insurance companies as a
premium he invested annually in cattle, until at the
present time he is, through these means alone, the
owner of 1,200 head ; the income derived therefrom
nets him $10,000 per annum ; this he invested in
railroad stock until his insurance fund now amounts
to the enormous sum of $100,000. He is an owner
in Utah railroads to the amount of about $400,000^
and is a bona fide millionaire.

William Jennings' commercial career has been
marked with as many salient points as that of the
Walkers, and he has been quite as 'prominent a
figure in history. On the Church side, he has occu-
pied a corresponding position to that of the Walker
Brothers on the Gentile side. In their relations to
Utah, among its founders, they are equally from the
Mormon people ; but, while the latter threw all
their weight into a commercial warfare against the

o .0

Church and its co-operative movement, the former
directed all his moneyed potency and enterprise
toward its commercial supremacy.

Jennings was in business years before the Walker
Brothers, but chiefly in the home-manufacturing *
line, in connection with his extensive stock dealing

SUPPLEMENT. 5 J

and butchering. As the great home-manufacturer
of Utah, he filled a sphere of usefulness to the com-
munity, not only in starting several branches of
home industries, upon which the very life and pros-
perity of communities depend, but also thus empha-
sizing the home policy of the Mormon leaders. In
this Jennings has been the exception to all the
other merchants, both Mormon and Gentile, par-
ticularly when speaking of the earlier times. Until
the opening of the mines, he alone was the mer-
chant-apostle of home industries, and even then,
true to his precedents, he became a railroad builder
with Brigham Young, and has moved with sagacity
towards the development of the solider resources
and capacities of the Territory.

Thus William Jennings has risen above the mere
home-manufacturer to the merchant, the banker and
the railroad director. His great hit as a merchant
was in 1864, the year in which he built his " Eagle
Emporium." Major Burrows had brought to Salt
Lake City a mammoth train of goods, worth half a
million dollars, at a wholesale bargain, which he
desired to sell to one house. Jennings was the only
one who could dare the venture at that period, and
this he did against the earnest protest of his busi-
ness managers, who feared so great a risk. He pur-
chased the half a million's worth, and " came to
time " handsomely. It was the luckiest hit of his
life, for, independent of large profits, it raised him
at once among the great merchants of America, and
enhanced the commercial standing of Utah herself.
He says this was his chief object in purchasing that
train of goods, rather than the temptation of a bar-

52 SUPPLEMENT.

gain. From that time Jennings was the merchant
prince of Utah, and he held the sceptre until he re-
signed it to Brigham Young, as President of " Zion's
co-operative Mercantile Institution."

Undoubtedly Mr. Jennings' greatest service to
the Mormon people, and especially his value to
President Young, was in the establishment of that
famous institution. This is more apparent from the
fact that the President had to force it in the face of
a commercial rebellion. The great merchant was
of more service to him at that moment than a
quorum of Elders.

Mr. Jennings is a lover of home magnificence. To
his examples Salt Lake City owes greatly its fine
solid appearance of to-day. With his Eagle Empo-
rium he commenced the collossal improvements of
Main Street, in which he was followed by William S»
Godbe and the Walker Brothers. His home is
quite palatial, and, during the last few years, many
of our most distinguished visitors, including Presi-
dent Grant, have partaken of his hospitality.

Jennings is again in business with his sons in the
Eagle Emporium, where the family will very likely-
flourish as merchant princes for several generations.

JUDGE PYPER.

: With the general approbation of all classes of
citizens, in 1874, Alderman Alexander Pyper was
appointed Judge of the Police Court of Salt Lake
City. The appointment of Judge Pyper to this

SUPPLEMENT.

53

important position was very acceptable to the Gen-
tiles and seceders, for he bore a character of un-
swerving- impartiality. True, he was a Mormon, but
in his own words, the stamp of his administration
had been given. He said : " My education and re-
" ligion have taught me to deal fairly and justly
'• towards all men, tender the law, irrespective of
" their conditions or opinions, and regardless of
" offences."

It was also peculiarly satisfactory to the " author-
ities " that Judge Pyper was so acceptable to the
general public on the retirement of Judge Clinton*
for there was at that moment a fast growing desire
among all classes to see the city under a manage-
ment suitable to the changed times, and especially
to have an unsectarian administration of the law.
The Third United States Judicial Court had be-
come quite an ecclesiastical inquisition, where the
constant questions put by the United States Prose-
cuting Attorney, and allowed by the Chief Justice,
and indeed often put by him, especially in " McKean's
reign," were : " Are you a Mormon ? Have you
" been through the Mormon Endowment House ?
•' Do you believe that polygamy is a divine revela-
" tion ?" &c. This became so finely drawn between
the Chief Justice and the Prosecuting Attorney that
it had no practical limit to the person, guilty of the
act of polygamy, but was extended to those merely
guilty of the condition of faith in Mormonism.
And these questions were also constantly put not
only to jurors, but to applicants for United States
citizenship. It was this condition of things that
rendered Judge Pypers words just quoted so perti-

54

SUPPLEMENT.

nent ; and in all his administration he has made good
those words.

Judge Pyper is a native of Ayreshire, Scotland.
He emigrated to the United States when a boy,
and subsequently graduated at Jones' Commercial
College, of St. Louis, Mo.

From 1853 to 1858 he conducted a very successful
mercantile business at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and at
Forence, Nebraska, being one of the principal
founders of the last-named place, — and assisted in
the church emigration matters at that point, under
the direction of H. S. Eldridge, for a period of
four years. He moved to Utah in 1859, an< ^ m
i860 built a chemical manufacturing laboratory,
producing, in large quantities, a number of useful
articles, used principally in home manufactures.

He was elected alderman for the fifth municipal
precinct of Salt Lake City in 1866, which position
he has held ever since. In 1834, by appointment of
the city council, he assumed the duties of Judge of
the Police Court, as before mentioned.

NICHOLAS GROESBECK.

This gentleman is one of the principal capitalists
of Utah, and the builder of the handsomest hotel
in the Territory. The " Wahsatch Hotel " is
already an ornament to the city, and when it is
completed it will present a magnificent appearance,
quite worthy any of the great cities of America.

Mr. Groesbeck is one of the old Mormons. He

SUPPLEMENT. 55

was born in Rensselaer County, New York, Sept.
5, 1 8 19. His father died when he was nine years
old, leaving him self-dependent. He embraced
Mormonism at the age of nineteen, and emigrated
to Springfield, 111., in the Fall of 1839, J Qst at tne
time the Mormons were settling- in Illinois, after
being driven from Missouri. There he lived till
1856, when he emigrated to Utah, just before the
Utah war. In the Spring of 1857 he was sent to
Independence, as an agent of the Y. X. Company,
to forward the mail. He sent on the news of the
Buchanan expedition, and coming home had quite
an adventure with General Johnston and his sol-
diers. In his train he had thirty-nine kegs of pow-
der. The General refused to give him a pass, and
at Platte Bridge he was forced to dispose of his
train and "flee to the mountains" on mules. In
the Fall of 1858 he bought the valuable piece of
property where now stand " Groesbeck's buildings."
In 1869 he commenced mining in Cottonwood
Canyon, and was one of the original company who
developed the Flagstaff Mine. He went to New
York to sell this mine in 1871. • Having stayed
there all the Summer without success, he went to
London, where he sold the Flagstaff for one hun-
dred thousand pounds. This gave him a first-class
place among moneyed men, the Flagstaff having
belonged solely to the Groesbeck family. He re-%
turned to Utah in the Spring of 1872, when he
commenced the building of his grand hotel.
When finished it will have cost two hundred
thousand dollars, which tells something of the
change wrought in the Great American Desert

56 SUPPLEMENT.

since the Mormon pioneers entered these valleys^
with scarcely seed enough for the first planting.
The Wahsatch Hotel will have a frontage of over
190 feet on the Main Street, and 155 on the side
street, it being the opposite corner of the block
where stands the colossal store and bank of the
Walker Brothers, which once terminated the busi-
ness part of Main Street. The Groesbeck Build-
ings, therefore, form an extension to this street of
merchants, comprising, as it does, eight handsome
stores, while the grand National Bank of Deseret,
and the immense store now being built by Zions
Co-operative Mercantile Institution carries Main
Street a block above the old commercial marks ;
these extensions at both ends giving promise that
this street will some day be worthy a metropolitan
city.

Groesbeck is largely interested in the mining
enterprises of the Territory, and at present especi-
ally in the development of coal and iron, for which
Utah is destined to be almost as famous as Penn-
sylvania. He is a director in the Great Western
Iron Co., of which John W. Young is President*
owner of a vast coal mine, and a director in several
railroad companies.

WALKER BROTHERS.

The career of the Walker Brothers has consti-
tuted no inconsiderable part of the commercial his-
tory of Utah. In their sphere they are pre-emi-
nently among her founders.

SUPPLEMENT. 57

In September, 1852, four brothers, with their
mother, arrived in Salt Lake City. Samuel Sharp
Walker, born September 2^d, 1834; Joseph Rob-
inson Walker, born August 29th, 1836 ; David
Frederick Walker, born April 19th, 1838 ; and
Matthew Henry Walker, born January i6th,
1845 * a ^ °f the town of Yeadon, Yorkshire, Eng-
land.

On their arrival in Salt Lake City, the three
brothers, " Sharp," " Rob " and " Fred," as they are
familiarly known to the people, although yet in
their teens, at once courageously entered into the
purposes of life with the energy and decision of
men ; for the death of their father at St. Louis the
previous year, with the death also of their two only
sisters, had thrown upon the elder brothers the re-
sponsibility of the family.

At the period that the Walker Brothers com-
menced their career in Utah, all the channels of
civilized life were unopened, and all the opportuni-
ties of enterprise were yet to be created. Com-
merce was not even born, and trade was barely
known in its most primitive forms.

Beginning in the most primitive manner, by ped-
dling and clerking, they gradually acquired money
and experience, the result of which is now manifest
in a decided commercial success.

The establishment of Camp Floyd, and the pres-
ence of an army of three thousand men with a train
of camp followers, gave to the Utah merchants
their first golden opportunity. From this event
dates the commencement of the commercial era
proper. The presence of that army, with its train

58 SUPPLEMENT.

of reckless adventurers, gamblers and desperadoes,
was certainly demoralizing from a social standpoint,
but, nevertheless, by it a commercial life was in-
fused into the Territory, which it did not previously
possess.

It was at Camp Floyd that the Walker Brothers
began business as a firm. At first Mr. " Fred ''
Walker kept store there for William Nixon, but in
the year 1859 tne three older brothers built a store
for themselves. By their frugality, perseverance and
integrity they soon established themselves as
among the rising merchants of Utah. Once fairly
started, the business grew rapidly, and in the Spring
of i860 they opened a branch store in Salt Lake
City. After the* evacuation of Camp Floyd this
latter store became their headquarters.

It is the Mormon and Apostate merchants, and
not the Gentiles, who have accomplished the gather-
ing of wealth into the Territory for themselves and
the people. Their homes w T ere in Utah, their des-
tiny with the people of Utah, their own growth and
lasting fortunes in the legitimate development of
her enterprises. Indeed, they could neither grow,
as a class, in social importance, nor work out any
considerable material prosperity for themselves
without doing the same for the entire community.
This was bound to be the case w r hether they re-
mained Mormons or became apostates ; and it is a
singular fact that, the apostates have done quite as
much to create wealth for the people, to develop the
native resources of Utah, and to bring in foreign
capital and enterprise, as those who have remained
under ecclesiastical guidance. Yet each of the two

SUPPLEMENT. 59

classes has been doing its proper part in the great
work of social progress and civilization. The one
has been the propelling power which has pushed
the Territory into new directions ; the other has
been the conservative power, which has consolidated
and appropriated the natural changes as they came
alone.

The enterprises of the Walkers since 1869-70
have been largely in connection with the mines of
Utah. They were really the men who gave by their
wealth an irresistible start to the mining industries
of the country. It can easily be seen how since
that time they have multiplied the material wealth
of the Territory, and contributed to the general
prosperity of the people ; their enterprises being
directed to the working of the mines rather than to
speculation in the sale of stocks.

But in i860, when the Walkers built their first
store in Salt Lake City, there were no mining in-
dustries to form the basis of commercial life. It was
not possible to open the mines at that early day,
for there was neither capital to work them nor rail-
roads to transport the ore. In fact, there was barely
capital enough in the Territory to supply even the
better classes with the commonest necessities.
Herein lay the first commercial difficulties of all the
early merchants.

The Walker Brothers were pre-eminently the men
who grappled with these difficulties and opened the
door for exportation. Fortunately Nevada, Mon-
tana, Idaho, and Colorado were springing up into
importance as mining Territories, and they needed
just what Utah was capable of furnishing, namely,

6o

SUPPLEMENT.

food. The Walkers, in catering to that demand,
exchanging " States goods " for the produce of the
Mormon farmers, gave force and direction to home
enterprise, and materially helped to establish a con-
dition of commercial prosperity in Utah.

WILLIAM S. GODBE.

William S. Godbe was born in London, Eng-
land, June 26th, 1833. In his early youth he went
to sea, but, after having visited several foreign
countries, spending some time in France, Germany,
and Denmark, and being shipwrecked twice, he gave
up his nautical life and started for America. He
had previously become connected with the Mor-
mons, and his adventurous mind was charmed with
the history of the migrations of that strange people,
and the wonderful work which they were perform-
ing in the Great American Desert. Landing in New
York, young Godbe, for he was but a stripling,
boldly set out to walk the entire distance to Salt
Lake City. Excepting the journey from Buffalo to
Chicago, which was performed on the lakes, he
measured every step of the road to the frontiers,
from which point he worked his way across the
plains in a merchant train. After his arrival in Salt
Lake City, in 1851, he engaged with Mr. Thomas
Williams, a merchant, and, in a few years, grew to
be one of the substantial men of the Mormon com- .
munity.

Later, however, he, together with others, becom-

SUPPLEMENT. 6l

ing dissatisfied with the commercial policy of Presi-
dent Young, and also entertaining some opinions at
variance with the polity of the Church, inaugurated
an antaeonistic agitation, known as the Godbe
movement. (See mention elsewhere). His history
since that time, so far as the Church is concerned,
has been that of a consistent as well as persistent
opponent of Brigham Young. However, on all
matters concerning the good fame of Utah, and the
development of her resources, he has ever con-
tended for her good honor and the welfare of her
people. Especially has this been the case in the
development of mining interests in Utah; for it will
not be disputed that the present flattering aspect of
those interests are, in a considerable degree due to
his enterprise and sagacity.

Concerning Mr. Godbe's enterprise and public
spirit, it may be said that, in the erection of build-
ings alone in Utah, he has spent a quarter of a
million of dollars, given in tithing and donations
$50,000, and $25,000 for the establishment of an
opposition press. Since his first journey to Salt
Lake he had crossed the plains twenty-four times
before the completion of the Pacific Railroad ; has
been four times to Europe, the last time on business
of great importance, having formed an alliance with
some of the wealthiest and most influential opera-
tors in England for the futherance- of their mutual
/ interests, — their object being to secure from among
the mines of Utah some of the most promising and
productive ones, in view of placing them on the
English and other markets for sale.

In this new and vastly enlarged field of action,

62 SUPPLEMENT.

Mr. Godbe will doubtless display the same energy
which has characterized him from his youth, and
already made him one of the most enterprising and
substantial pioneers of the great West.

The Chicago Silver Mining Company, Limited,
was organized by Mr. Godbe in London, in the
Spring of 'j2» an d has proved, under his efficient
management, the only successful English company
in Utah. In July, '75, additional permanence was
given to this company by the acquisition of the
celebrated Queen of the Hills and Flavilla Mines,
since which period their net profits have averaged
no less than $20,000 a month, while their disburse-
ments for labor, fuel, &c, have been more than
double that sum, or at least half a million per
annum.

Whatever the merits of the case of the Godbeites
vs. the Church of Latter-day Saints, it is but just to
say, Mr. Godbe is still true to the destiny that im-
pelled him to take a leading part in the up-building
of Utah.

HENRY W. LAWRENCE.

Henry W. Lawrence was born July 18th, 1835,.
near Toronto, Canada.

When Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, took ,
his mission to Canada, he, with John Taylor, who had
joined the Church in the British province, visited
Toronto, and among their converts were Edward
Lawrence and IVJargaret his wife, the parents of the

SUPPLEMENT. O

J

subject of this sketch. In 1838 the Lawrences
moved to Illinois to join the body of the Saints, but
in 1S40 the father died at Lima, from which place
the family removed to Nauvoo. In 1S50 the
mother and her children crossed the plains to Salt
Lake City.

After having served as a clerk for several of the
pioneer firms, Mr. Lawrence, in the Spring of 1859,
went into business with his brother-in-law, John B.
Kimball, a Gentile, who was known as a prominent
merchant of Salt Lake City before the period of
the Utah war. Soon the firm of Kimball & Law-
rence became famous both at " home and abroad,"
for its commercial integrity, solidity and prudence.
John Kimball, though a Gentile merchant, had
always been on the most friendly terms with the
Mormon people, to whom he was so nearly related,
and was as faithful as any brother in paying tithing
to the Church, and as liberal as a prince in his dona-
tions to the poor. Undoubtedly, however, it was
Lawrence who rave to the firm its substantial influ-
ence with the community, for the strict moral life
and uprightness of character of the young merchant,,
coupled with his excellent commercial ability, estab-
lished him at once in the public regard and in the
confidence of President Youno\ It should also be
observed that his marriage with the niece of John
B. Kimball gave to Henry a moneyed influence, as
the lady brought him a considerable dower.

Mr. Lawrence was one of the prime movers in
the Godbe movement, and, although dearly beloved
by Brigham Young and the Church generally, he
was promptly " cut of, ' along with Godbe and
others.

64 SUPPLEMENT.

Nevertheless, Henry W. Lawrence, for his integ-
rity, is respected by all classes of the people of
Utah, and by no man more so than by President
Young, who to this day regrets the necessity that
compelled their separation.

WM. C. STAINES.

Wm. C. Staines was born in Higham Ferries,
Northamptonshire, England, September 26th, 1818.
In 1841, on his birthday, he first listened to the
preaching of a Mormon elder (Geo. J. Adams),
and in the following Nov. was baptized. He was
shortly thereafter ordained, and did some preaching
up to the time of his leaving Liverpool for America,
— Jan. 1 8th, 1843. He- reached Nauvoo, via New
Orleans, in April of that year. Was in the first
company that left Nauvoo in 1846, and arrived in the
Valley Sept. 14th, 1847. Was made a president of
one of the quorums of Seventies, and in the Fall
of 1859 was sent to Europe on mission, taking
charge of the London conference until the Spring
of 1863, when he was called to assist Elder Horace
S. Eldridge in the New York office of the emigra-
tion. In 1864 he served in the same capacity under
Jos. A. Young, and the year following under H. B.
Clawson, since which time he has been in charp-e.

The duties and service of the emigration agent
of the Mormon Church are of the most important
and responsible kind. This is readily appreciated
in view of the emphatically patriarchal character

SUPPLEMENT. 65

t

and condition of the Mormon emigrations from
Europe. Gathered mostly from the rural districts
of Great Britain and Scandinavia, many of them
never before having gone more than ten or twenty
miles from their birthplaces, the people have been
very much like grown-up children leaving their
native lands. Who more than they needed a father
in the emigration agent appointed to receive them
when they reached this side of the Atlantic ? For
nearly fifteen years the Mormon people have had
such a father in the person of William C. Staines,
who has been quite a chief apostle of President
Young in the execution of his great emigrational
movement that has peopled the valleys of the
Rocky Mountains.

William C. Staines has emigrated from this side
of the Atlantic to Utah nearly forty thousand souls.
He receives them on their landing in America, and
has in readiness special trains to take them in com-
panies immediately west, so that no expense is in-
curred by delays in New York. No " runners " or
emigration pirates are allowed to break in among
the Mormon companies, who are kept strictly in
their family-like capacity during the few hours they
remain in New York, and then the agent oversees
them to the last moment of their start west per
train, so that the emigrants scarcely realize what it
is to be in a strange land.

During all these years in the " gathering " of the
tens of thousands of his people, William C. Staines
has not only been an emigration father to the
Saints, but a very efficient and successful . agent in
the conduct of the vast and complicated business

66 SUPPLEMENT.

connected therewith. It is this, with his general
fitness for the service, which has kept him so long
in the trust, for President Young never continues in
the management of important church affairs any
but successful men ; and especially would he not in
the superintendence of the emigrations of his
people. The fact that Mr. Staines has been thus
continued year after year by President Young is
the very best testimonial that could be possibly pre-
sented of him.

In years gone by there have been a few mishaps
in the Mormon emigrations, but none since Mr.
Staines took charge. He has done more emigra-
tional business than any other man, and has done it
most satisfactory to the Presidency, to the people
and to the railroad companies concerned. Not only
does he see that all things are right at New York>
but on every branch of the route, — often making
trips to see that all is properly managed for the-
well-being of the emigrants, and sometimes to
" put matters straight." If anything turns up to
the discomfort of the people, or is likely to turn up^
the railroad managers hear of it sharply. The
great business which he has done in emigration
gives him the prestige to speak as "a man having
authority."

William C. Staines has been repeatedly mentioned
in the chapters of this book in connection with
some of its most interesting episodes.

AMOS M. MUSSER.
The Utah telegraph lines are the work of Presi-
dent Young and his chief assistants, among- whom

SUPPLEMENT., 67

is Amos Milton Musser, the General Superin-
tendent of the Deseret Telegraph.

As early as 1861, President Young resolved to
connect all the settlements of Utah by a regular
home telegraph system. This was more an enter-
prise as the head of his people and the founder of
Utah, than as a mere incorporator of a telegraph
company. The necessities of his calling as the
counselor of the entire community required it. An
immense achievement would be wrought both for
the Territory and the Church, in his being able to
sit in his own office at Salt Lake City and commu-
nicate in a few hours with every bishop in the
Territory, if required.

In January, 1867, the Utah Legislature incorpo-
rated the " Deseret Telegraph Company." The
•corporators were Brigham Young, Edward Hunter,
A. M. Musser, E. D. Woolley, A. H. Raleigh, John
Sharp, William Miller, J. W. Hess, A. J. Moffit and
Robert Gardener.

, The first circuit completed required 500 miles of
wire, 320 pounds to the mile, which was brought to
Salt Lake City by ox teams, at a cost of 35 cents per
pound. The line, completed, cost about $150 per
mile. Years before this President Youncr had fur-
nished and set the poles for some 500 miles of the
overland; lines connecting the Atlantic with the
Pacific. In the construction of the home line the
bishops and people did their part with labor and
means, and the 500 mile circuit was completed by
the beginning of 1867, and the company assumed
legal form, with A. M. Musser as its general super-
intendent, Brigham Young being its president and

68 SUPPLEMENT.

principal director. Since the completion of the
main circuit the company has built some 600 miles
of extensions and branches, penetrating Southern
Idaho, Northern Arizona, and South Eastern
Nevada ; also a number of the mining camps.

Superintendent Musser is a representative Mor-
, mon. Indeed for many years he has figured very
much in the character of one of the " authorities of
the Church," of the bishop class. He is an Ameri-
can by birth, from Pennsylvania, born in 1850. He
became a Mormon just before the martyrdom of
the Prophet, and with his mother and sister settled
in Nauvoo, in 1846. They were among the sufferers,
in the expulsion from that city, but he remained in
that part of the country in business until 1851,
arriving in Utah in September of that year, when,
he was given a position in the General Tithing
Office.

Elder Musser has also figured as a prominent,
person among the missionaries of his Church. In
the Fall of 1852, with eight other elders, he was
called to a mission to Hindostan. This was at /a
great missionary period, when President Young,
attempted to carry out Josephs instructions to mis-
sion all the world, including Heathendom. At this
conference there were called some forty elders for
missions to Hindostan, China, Australia, Siam and
the Sandwich Islands. Elder Musser labored in
Calcutta, Bombay and Kuwachee for three years,
when the elders were released to return to Utah.
Of course Heathendom never gave to the Mormon
Church many converts, but it did afford the elders
some very hard missions.

SUPPLEMENT. 69

Elder Musser reached London in 1856, and re-
mained in England laboring in the ministry till the
following Spring, when he returned to Utah, being
one of the principals in charge of the emigration of
that year.

Since his return to Utah in 1857, he has been
actively employed in promoting the chief interests
of home industries ; and as general traveling agent
of the Church throughout the Territory, he has
assisted materially in emigration, Indian matters,
temple building, co-operation, &c. ; and finally as
superintendent of " Deseret Telegraph Company."
He has also been one of the assistant Trusteesrin-
trust of the Church, and one of the chief men gener-
ally in carrying out President Youngs movements.

ORSON HYDE.

This famous apostle, the son of Nathan Hyde,
was born in Oxford, Conn., January 8th, 1805. Of
his first efforts in life, on his own account, he says :
" My first strike was to hire out at six dollars per
41 month, to work in an iron foundry. * I

" then hired for six months to Mr. Orrin Holmes of
" Chagin (now Willoughby), to card wool, and,
"being a raw hand at the business, I could not get
" very high wages. The machines were in Kirtland.
" =:: * I went to the store of Gilbert &

" Whitney, in Kirtland, to serve as clerk, where I
" continued for a year or two ; then hired two card-
" ing machines to run for one year, the same where
11 I was engaged a year or two before."

JO SUPPLEMENT.

This explains how young Hyde came to be at
Kirtland, afterwards' the famous gathering place of
the Mormons.

About that time there was a Methodist camp
meeting near Kirtland, and Orson became a con-
vert and subsequently a class leader. At about the
same time, he heard that a " golden Bible " had
been dug out of a rock in the State of New York.
It was treated, however, as a hoax ; but, on reading
the report, he: remarked : " Who knows but that
" this golden Bible may break up our religion and
11 change its whole features and bearing."

Soon afterwards he became a convert to the
famous Sidney Rigdon, who taught baptism for the
remission of sins ; but Sidney becoming a convert
to the Prophet Joseph, Orson Hyde, after some
hesitation, embraced the " fullness of the Gospel."
He soon became a minister, traveling without purse
or scrip, as was the custom of the elders, and on the
organization of the Twelve he was chosen one of
them.

In the Spring of 1837 Heber C. Kimball, Orson
Hyde, Willard Richards, Isaac Russell, John Snider
and Joseph Fielding were appointed to mission
England. These were the first elders to that land
- — indeed the first to go on any foreign mission.

In 1840 he went to Jerusalem, to consecrate the
Holy Land. Alone he performed a solemn service
on the Mount of Olives. The Prophet had de-
clared Orson to be of the House of Judah ; hence
this singular mission.

After the death of the Prophet, while the Saints
were at winter quarters, he, with Apostles Parley P.

SUPPLEMENT. J I

Pratt and John Taylor, set out for Great Britain, to
put the churches in order there, and returned just
too late to start with the pioneers to the Rocky
Mountains. On their return he was active in the
re-organizing of the first presidency, and was the
man who proposed Brigham Young as Joseph's
successor. For a year or two he presided over the
Saints in Pottowatomie County, Iowa, until the re-
moval of the remnant of the Church. Since then
he has been a presiding apostle in various settle-
ments of Utah.

FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS.

Franklin Dewey Richards was born in Rich-
mond, Mass., April 2d, 182 1. Here he lived with
his parents until the age of ten, and was kept at
school. From his tenth to his seventeenth year he,
worked out, on hire, towards the support of his
fathers family ; and during this time he heard and
embraced the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints.
In 1838 he joined the community in Missouri 111
season to share with them in their cruel banishment
from that State. He afterwards found employment
near Quincy, 111., until April, 1840, when he was
called to the ministry. His first missions were in
the United States. In 1844 he was ordained a
High Priest, and was appointed on a mission to
England, but was recalled on the assassination of
the Prophet. He started for England, with his
brother, in 1846, and at once became associated
with the presidency of that great mission. In 1848

72 SUPPLEMENT.

he returned with a company of emigrants, and
removed his father's family from Missouri to Great
Salt Lake Valley in time to help fence in the city.
In Feb., 1849, ne was ordained one of the Twelve
Apostles, and appointed to preside over the
churches in Europe, which then numbered over
30,000 members. The Millennial Star, which his
uncle Willard had, with Parley P. Pratt, been instru-
mental in founding, under his management reached
an issue of 23,000 weekly. It was during his presi-
dency that the various great missions of the Conti-
nent were established by John Taylor, Lorenzo
Snow and Erastus Snow, which were incorporated
under the presidency of Great Britain. In 1852 he
returned to Utah, and for two years actively partic-
ipated in the public affairs of the Territory. In
1854 he went on mission again to Europe, and
during this term he shipped from Europe via Livers-
pool about 10,000 emigrants for Utah. He returned
home in 1856, and was the next year commissioned
by Governor Young a Brig.-Gen. of the Nauvoo
Legion. He has, from the organization of the
Territory, been almost constantly a member of the
Legislature. In 1866 he was for the third time
appointed President of the European mission. He
is now presiding at Ogden over one of the Stakes
of Zion.

CHARLES C. RICH.

Chas. C. Rich is one of the apostolic generals
of Mormondom, and a descendant of the Puritan
stock of America. Like Heber C. Kimball, he has

SUPPLEMENT. 73

shown, in his physical structure as well as in the
type of his character, the real stamp that one
naturally looks for in the descendants of those
mighty men of God who fought for civil and reli-
gious liberty in their native England, or fled to
establish their rights in the New England that they
founded; so Charles C. Rich, in his youth, was an
apostolic soldier, actually fighting with the sword in
the " wars of the Saints " in Missouri and Illinois.
In the Prophet Joseph's days he was more distin-
guished as General Rich than he was as a mission-
ary preacher of the faith. Yet he was by no means
ambitious for military distinction, but rather a true,
Christian soldier — a defender of the faith.

After the death of the Prophet, when the Saints
moved to the Rocky Mountains, General Rich was
chosen by President Young a member of the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostle?. With Apostle
Amasa Lyman and a colony of Mormons he went
into Southern California, and founded the settle-
ment of San Bernardino, which prosperous city was
abandoned by the Saints at the breaking out of the
Utah war. This war being over, he was appointed,
in i860, to a mission to England. There he labored
several years in the presidency.

• Apostle Rich is a man of excellent and marked
character. For his uprightness, unwavering fidelity
and unblemished life, he has but few equals. He is
honored by his chief, from whom probably he has
never received a rebuke, and is respected by the
entire community. He is a man who has (according
to his faith) committed but few errors in his event-
ful life, and has no enemies. Of course he is a

74 SUPPLEMENT.

polygamic patriarch, and it may be interesting to
the reader to learn that he is the father of fifty
children, nearly all of whom are sons. There* are,
therefore, quite a tribe of Riches in Utah. He is
the founder of Bear Lake County, over which he
presides as an apostle.

ORSON PRATT.

Apostle Orson Pratt, one of the three surviving
members of the first quorum of the Twelve, was
born September 19th, 181 1, in Hartford, Washing-
ton Co., N. Y., and may justly lay claim to be of
semi-apostolic stock, — being descended from the
Puritan founders of New England.

The first quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which
included Parley P. and Orson Pratt, was organized
in 1835, when the Prophet Joseph gave to them the
commission to preach the gospel to all the nations
of the earth. In 1840, Orson, with nine of that
quorum, were in England, and it fell to his lot to
open a mission in Scotland. After much labor and
great privation he succeeded in building up the
Edinburgh conference. Subsequently he has been
several times president of the European mission.

He and Erastus Snow were the two first Mor-
mons who entered the Valley of the Great Salt
Lake. For his eloquent. and erudite championship
of the Church, both as a speaker and writer, he is
widely recognized as the Paul of Mormonism. His
famous discussion with Dr. Newman has been men-

SUPPLEMENT. 75

tioned elsewhere. He is at present the Church
Historian, but also maintains with great acceptance
his position, long since achieved, as the greatest
preacher of the Church of Latter-day Saints.

PARLEY P. PRATT.

Parley Parker Pratt was born in Burlington,
Otsego Co., N. Y., April 12th, 1807. He was a
distinguished member cf the first quorum of the
Twelve, and for his marked Hebraic character and
tone, was accounted the Isaiah of his people. He
was one of the first missionaries of the Mormon
faith, and some of his early writings have been
treated as standard works of the Church. In the
51st year of his age, while traveling in Arkansas, he
was assassinated. An autobiography of this distin-
guished apostle has been published, from which
may be gathered those matters of interest concern-
ing his life and labors which, from lack of space, are
necessarily excluded from this cursory sketch.

ERASTUS SNOW.

Apostle Erastus Snow was born at St. Johns-
bury, Vt, November 9th, 18 18. In 1833 he became
a convert to Mormonism, and two years afterwards
was ordained an elder. At about this time also he
left his parents and journeyed to Kirtland, Ohio, to

76 SUPPLEMENT.

join the Saints. From that time forward he was
intimately identified with the Church, and shared in
its various trials and vicissitudes. He and Orson
Pratt were the first Mormons to enter the Valley ,
of the Great Salt Lake, and visit the future site of
Salt Lake City. This occurred July 21st, 1847. In
1849 ne was appointed a member of the Twelve.
In the same year he opened the mission to Scandi-
navia, beginning in Denmark, from which beginning
a great work has been developed, — over 16,000 Scan-
dinavian emigrants having since been gathered to
Utah. Since that time he has engaged in numerous
other missions and works for the upbuilding of the
Church, in all of which undertakings he has been
eminently successful.

In October 1861, he, in connection with Orson
Pratt, was selected to explore the Rio Virgin
country, and to take charge of a colony of several
hundred families, for the purpose of opening up
cotton farms in Southern Utah. The result of that
expedition was the laying out of a number of towns
within the next few years, with St. George as the
capital, and the general opening up of the Southern
country, over which Apostle Snow has since most
acceptably presided.

JOHN TAYLOR.

This distinguished apostle was born in Winthrop,
Westmoreland County, Eng., Nov. 1st, 1808. He
received a common school education, and remained
in that country until about the year 1832, when he

SUPPLEMENT. 77

rejoined his father's family in Canada, to which
Province they had emigrated two years previously.
Before leaving England, young Taylor joined the
Methodist Church, and was made a local preacher
in that body. Shortly after arriving in Canada, he
made the acquaintance of, and married, Miss
Leonora Cannon ; and in 1836, under the ministra-
tion of Parley P. Pratt, he was brought into the
Church of Latter-day Saints, thereafter becoming a
zealous laborer, and rapidly rising in influence and
fame. In 1837 he left Canada and joined the body
of the Church at Far West, where he was soon
elevated to the apostleship as a member of the
Twelve. On Aug. 8th, 1839, he took leave of his
family, and started with Wilford Woodruff on mission
to England (see account elsewhere). His especial
work on this mission was to introduce the new faith
into Ireland, which he did with considerable success.
He returned with Brigham Young and others in
1 841, and subsequently became the editor and pub-
lisher of various church newspapers and books, and
was prominently identified with all of the events
of moment to the Saints in those times, including a
voluntary imprisonment with Joseph and Hyrum
Smith in Carthage jail ; and on the occasion of their
assassination he received four balls in his own
person.

In 1846 he joined the exodus, but while the
Saints tarried on the prairies he made a trip to
England, returning to winter quarters just as the
pioneers started on their famous journey to the
Valley of the Great Salt Lake. He subsequently
entered the valley with the first companies of the
Saints.

yS SUPPLEMENT.

In 1849 h e was appointed to go on mission to
Europe, and reached France in the following year,
where he had a famous discussion, with three minis-
ters, upon the principles of Mormonism, which dis-
cussion was published, eliciting much comment.
He returned to Utah in 1852. In 1854 he was ap-
pointed to preside over the Eastern churches, super-
vise the emigration, and publish a paper. This
paper, The Mormon, was continued under his man-
agement until 1857, when he was recalled to Salt
Lake, and on account of the threatened " Buchanan
war" the paper was soon discontinued. In the
meantime he had been also prominent in the en-
deavor to get the inchoate State of Deseret admit-
ted into the Union.

Since that time he has traveled and preached
extensively throughout the Territory, and performed
much literary work for the Church ; also having
served as Probate Judge of Utah County, and hav-
ing been for many terms a member of the Utah
Legislature.

, ALBERT CARRINGTON.

Albert Carrington was born in Royalton^
Windsor Co., Vt, January 8th, 1813. He graduated
at Dartmouth College, in the class of 1833, and for
two or three years subsequently taught school and
studied law in Pennsylvania. From Pennsylvania
he removed to Wisconsin, where he engaged in lead
mining until 1844. In 1841 he joined the Mormon
Church in Wiota, Wis., and, on the abandonment

SUPPLEMENT. 79

of his business in 1844, "gathered" to Nauvoo.
This was at the very crisis of the troubles then
occurring there, and just previous to the martyrdom
of the Prophet. He was with the Saints in their
exodus, crossing the Mississippi, with his family, on
the 9th of February, 1846, thus being one of the
first to start for the Rocky Mountains. He was of
the camp on Sugar Creek, went to Council Bluffs
with the " Camp of Israel," and was a member of
the band of pioneers. He returned with President
Young to gather the main body of the Saints, and
journeyed to the mountains with them in 1848.

After the organization of Utah Territory he was
repeatedly elected a member of the Council until
1868, when he was sent to England, to preside over
the European mission.

For twenty years, when at home, he has been
President Young's secretary. Bearing in mind that
Brigham is a Napoleonic character, and that he has
directed Mormondom throughout the world, it is
easy to understand that his secretary must be no
ordinary man. This is also indicated by the title
which the anti-Mormons have given him : — " The
Mormon Wolsey."

Several years ago he was elevated to the rank of
an apostle. He is now again presiding over the
British mission.

JOSEPH F. SMITH.

Apostle J. F. Smith was born Nov. 13th, 1838, at
Far West, Caldwell Co., Mo. He is a son of Hy-
rum Smith, who, with his brother Joseph, was

8p SUPPLEMENT.

assassinated in Carthage jail ; and his youth was
spent amid the scenes and vicissitudes incident to
the journeying of the Church from Nauvoo, and
the early settlement of Utah.

In 1854 . he^ went on mission to the Sandwich
Islands, where he labored with very encouraging
success. " According to promise," says he, " and
" by the blessing of the Almighty, I acquired the
" language of the islanders, and commenced my

• labors, preaching, baptizing, etc., among the na-

* tives, in one hundred days after my arrival at
" Honolulu." He returned in time to engage in the
campaign against the U. S. army, in the Spring of
1858, and was on duty in the Utah militia up to the
time that Johnston's army entered the Valley. In
i860 he went on mission to England, returning in
1863 ; and in 1864 again went to the Sandwich
Islands, in company with Elders E. T. Benson, L.
Snow, W. W. ClufT, and A. L. Smith, remaining
about one year. In 1865 he was elected a member
of the House of Representatives of the Utah
Legislature, and was returned in 1866-7-8-9-70
and '72.

In 1866 he was ordained an apostle, and in '67
was called to fill a vacancy in the quorum of the
Twelve.

He has served several terms in the Council of
Salt Lake City , and once in the same capacity in
the City of Provo, where he resided a portion of the
year 1868. During 1874 and a part of '75, he pre-
sided over the British mission, and had charge of
the church emigration, etc. In Nov., '75, he was
appointed to preside in Davis County, Utah, in

SUPPLEMENT. 8 1

which duty he is now engaged. As an expression
of his fidelity to the faith, his own words will tes-
tify : — " I am as confident of the divine mission of
<( Joseph Smith as I am of my own existence , " and
concerning his practice it is proper to say that his
life has been one of labor, of self-denial, and of
earnest solicitude for the salvation of mankind.

JOHN W. YOUNG.

Although, strictly speaking, not one of the
founders of Utah, perhaps no man of this later
generation is more fairly entitled to that distinction
than John W.. third son of Brigham Young.

Born October ist, 1844, j ust subsequent to the
martyrdom of Joseph Smith, it has been his fortune
to take part in, and be associated with, every im-
portant event in the history of the Mormon people,
since the days of their exodus.

Nor will it be just to ascribe any great share of
his success in life to the apparently fortuitous cir-
cumstance of kinship ; far more just is it to say
that through happy endowment of sterling qualities,
and by faithful husbandry of natural talent, he has
deservedly attained his present honorable promi-
nence.

As noted elsewhere, at the aofe of twelve he
organized a brigade of youths, who were subse-
quently uniformed ; and in the following year their
young leader was regularly commissioned a colonel in

S2 SUPPLEMENT.

the Nauvoo Legion. During the Fall of that event-
ful year (1857) he rode express between Salt Lake
City and the headquarters of the Utah army, but was
more constantly employed near the person of his
father. And for two years succeeding the entrance
of the United States troops into the Territory, he^
and his brothers Joseph A. and Brigham, Jr., with
others, guarded his father night and day.

Nor should we omit to mention that in April,
1857, on the occasion of an expedition to Fort
Limhi, on the head waters of the Columbia River,
Oregon, when Brigham Young and a company made
that journey for the pacification and civilization of
the Indians, John W., although not yet 13 years
of age, accompanied them, and regularly stood
guard, the same as did the grown men of the
expedition.

In i860, he, with a companion, distributed tele-
graph poles across the deserts, — an arduous and
fatiguing service, — and in 1861 he took charge of
his fathers business, doing all the contracting for
the completion of the great theatre.

In the Spring of 1862 the Indians made such
depredations on the Overland Route that the mail
stations were generally abandoned. President Lin-
coln telegraphed to President Young, requesting
him to send out a party to reconnoitre, gather up
the mails scattered on the road, and report the con-
dition of affairs. In response to President Lincoln's
request, twenty-five picked men were dispatched,
under command of General Burton, of whom John
W. Young was one. The expedition encountered
. the most inclement weather known in that section

SUPPLEMENT. 83. ■;

to this day, and endured a series of hardships of the •
most trying character.

In the Summer of 1863 he assisted Elders Staines
and Eldridge in the New York office of the emigra-
tion, and in 1864 he again went east to assist his
brother, Joseph A., in the same duties. While on
this service he went to England, where for a time
he remained with Geo. Q. Cannon, who was then
presiding over the European missions. Traveling
with Apostle Cannon, he visited the Saints in Ger-
many, Switzerland, France and Denmark. It is
worthy of remark that in one place they were com-
pelled to hold meetings in a garret, — too low to
afford standing room, — while the police were on the
watch for them.

He returned to Utah in 1864, but again went on
mission to Europe in 1866. This time he traveled
through Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway,
Russia and Prussia. Returning to Utah with the
emigration of 1867, he joined the last train that
ever came through from the old frontiers, — the next
seasons emigration coming as far as Laramie by the
Union Pacific Railroad.

In the Spring of 1868, with the building of the
Utah ends of the Union Pacific and Union Central
Railroads, came the opportunity to develop his
genius and fitness for the management of business
enterprises. Launching out for himself, he boldly
undertook several contracts on these roads, which
netted him from forty-five to fifty thousand dollars,
and encouraged him to engage in the more compre- ^
hensive railroad enterprises that he has since under-
taken with such uniform success. Of these it may

84 SUPPLEMENT.

be mentioned in a general way that, with his brother
Joseph A., he organized and built the Utah Central,
and served for some time as Secretary and Treas-
urer of the same ; that he was prominent in the
organization of the Utah Southern ; built ninety
miles of the Utah Northern ; and more recently
has projected and nearly completed the Utah West-
ern Railroad, of which he is President and principal
stockholder. It is proper to here mention that,,
despite the adoption of the popular gauge by other
roads in Utah, Mr. Young, with genuine sagacity as
to the future requirements of the railroad system
of the Rocky Mountain region, had the nerve to
adopt the narrow gauge on the Utah Northern and
Utah Western. The excellence of his judgment in
this regard is already apparent

Nor do we lay stress upon this manifestation of
individuality from the mere standpoint of business
observation. A significance attaches to it. In the
hearts of the Mormon people is the lofty hope that
theirs shall ultimately be the model commonwealth
for all the world, and in pursuit of that righteous
ambition they will inevitably rally to the standard
of that man who shall best display the innovative
sagacity and nerve to push forward those schemes
that are needed to achieve the elevation and con-
solidation of their peculiar interests. The greatness
of that people is inevitable. Out of the fiery trials
that have beset them has evolved a brotherly integ-
rity that makes of them a forceful unit in the midst
of disintegrating and decaying systems. Integrity
is the saving quality of any people. Therefore
it is not impossible that this people shall become

SUPPLEMENT. 85

the anchor of our nation, and the hope of the
world.

At the October Semi-annual Conference of 1876,
John W. Young was appointed First Councilor in
the Presidency of the Church, vice George A. Smith,
deceased.

JOSEPH A. YOUNG.

Endowed with splendid talents, gifted with the
genius of statesmanship, and blessed with a mag-
nanimous nature, which made him worthy to be the
leader of men, might truthfully be written of the
lamented Joseph A. Young, eldest son of the presi-
dent. He was born at Kirtland, Geauga county,
Ohio, October 14th, 1834. Soon after Brigham
gathered to Kirtland, being a widower, he married
Mary Ann Angell, by whom he was the father of
Joseph A., Brigham, Jr., John W., Mary Ann, Alice
and Luna.

Joseph A. remained with his mother at winter
quarters while the president was leading the pioneers
to the Rocky Mountains, but accompanied him, with
the whole family, on the second journey.

He had scarcely reached the age of twenty when
he was appointed on a mission to Great Britain.
Reaching Liverpool June 4th, 1854, he was at first
appointed to the Liverpool district, under Pastor
John S. Fullmer. Soon afterwards, attending the
general council of elders at London, he obtained a
thorough understanding of the organization of the

86

SUPPLEMENT.

British mission. During the remainder of the year
he labored in the Manchester district ; but the fol-
lowing year he succeeded Millen Atwood in the
presidency of the Bradford conference. In the
spring of 1856 he spent some weeks in Scotland.

Notwithstanding limited school opportunities, con-
sequent upon the exodus, and founding of Utah,
from the age of twelve' he was a passionate student
of books. In England his studies were quite clas-
sical, commencing with the British constitution and
the ablest works on the English system of govern-
ment,; next to which came the histories of nations,
of which he was very fond. He was familiar with
such authors as Bacon, Blackstone, Locke, and John
Stuart Mill, who at that date was the greatest living
authority on the science of government, and soci-
ology. In fact, Joseph A. gave himself the education
of a practical statesman, and sent home the best
private library in Utah.

While in England he won the sincere attachment
of all associated with him, and before his departure
the saints of the Bradford conference presented
him an elegant silver goblet as a token of their
regard. He returned home in 1856. This was the
season of the handcart expedition in which so many
of the emigrants perished in the untimely snows.
In the rescue of these companies Joseph A. figured
heroically, almost immortally, earning for himself a
representative page of history.

In 1868 he became a sub-contractor under his
father on the Union Pacific railroad. Under this
contract, in company with John Sharp, he did stone
work and tunneling in Weber Canyon to the amount

SUPPLEMENT. &J

of about $1,000,000. They afterwards filled another
contract on the Union Pacific, amountingto $100,000.
Joseph A. .and his brother John W. also planned,
got up the papers, and organized the Utah Central,
under their father, who was its president. This line
.was first suggested by John W. Young some months
before the completion of the Union Pacific, he urging
the policy of securing the route, and building our
home railroads instead of leaving these enterprises
open. These brothers also organized the Utah
Southern. Joseph A. possessed a wonderful faculty
as an engineer, to observe at a glance what most
engineers could only determine by the level and
transit. He was the first superintendent of the
Utah Central, and afterwards its president, and
would probably have continued active in railroad
operations but for the McKean crusade. This
turned the current of his life more into the eccle-
siastical sphere.

At the April conference of 1872 he was appointed
to preside over the Sevier district, a portion of
country extending from Gunnison, on the north, to
Pangwitch, on the south, and embracing, together
with Piute and Sevier counties, all those parts of
Ir,on and San Pete counties along the "Sevier river.
In the few months following he succeeded in re-
moving a portion of his family to Richfield, the
county seat of Sevier. The first task which received
his attention was the opening of a road through
Clear Creek Canyon, a defile extending from the
Sevier valley to the settlements of Millard county,
and one which if traversable would bring the grain
markets of Southern Utah and Southeast Nevada

88 SUPPLEMENT.

many miles nearer to the grain-producing counties
of San Pete and Sevier. This then gigantic enter-
prise, under the direction of Joseph A. was prose-
cuted to completion without the aid of a Territorial
appropriation, and has proven to be one of the
greatest advantages to the people of that entire
country. Thus did a county, then as poor as any
in Utah, succeed in pushing through an undertaking
which without the driving energy of Joseph A.
Young would perhaps still remain a task of the
future. Carrying out the policy of the church, he
began also energetically to organize co-operative
institutions throughout the district, and assisted
both with means and influence in the formation of
flour mill, canal, horse, cattle, sheep, and other com-
panies. In the spring of 1874, President Young
urged the policy of organizing the people into the
United Order, and Joseph A., who was at St. George,
having received an insight into this institution, im-
mediately started for the district over which he
presided, and inside of a few months had organized
and put in motion the United Order in nearly every
settlement of the Sevier Stake. From this time
until his death the subject of the United Order
occupied his entire time and thoughts. It indeed
required a master mind and resolute character to
effect the results which the success of the Order
throughout Sevier district indicate.

Being also an efficient and skillful architect, when
it was announced that a temple should be built in
San Pete, to him was assigned the duty of making
the draughts and specifications and the direction of
the work. It was on his return from a visit to Salt

SUPPLEMENT. 89

Lake City, and but a few minutes after he had ex-
amined the site of the structure, in Manti, August
5th, 1875, that he expired — being suddenly cut down
by an attack of chills and cramp.

A special committee of the Council of the Utah
Legislature, appointed to draft resolutions of respect
to his memory, reported the following, which was
spread upon the minutes :

Council Chamber,
City Hall, Salt Lake City,

February 17, 1876.

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Council :

It is our painful duty to notice, and we do so with
feelings of deep sorrow, the death of the late Hon.
Joseph A. Young, member elect of the Territorial
Legislative Council, who was, on the 5th day of
August, 1875, at the residence of Judge Peacock, in
the full strength of his manhood, called to pass be-
yond the associations of this life. By birth he was
an American citizen, but during his boyhood he
enjoyed none of the privileges and rights guaran-
teed by the constitution of our common country, for
in those days intolerant religious persecution and
hatred pressed heavily and with cruel hand alike
upon the old and young ; the history of which, in
the nineteenth century, is at least without parallel.
Driven by unrelenting mobs, year after year, and
thus deprived of all advantages of early education,
we yet find him, as early as 1856, just merging into
manhood, an honorable member of the sixth annual
Territorial House of Representatives, serving in the
interests of Salt Lake county, in which capacity
also he continued during the eleventh and twelfth
sessions, and during the same year we find him
manfully facing the bitter storms and biting frosts
of one of the most severe winters ever known in

90 SUPPLEMENT.

these mountain regions, pushing his way through
canyons filled with drifting snows, and over almost
impassable barriers, with a hardy company whose
wagons were laden with provisions and clothing for
the needy, then en route for Utah with the hand-
cart company of 1856.

A less resolute spirit would have failed in this
daring undertaking, but he, with a heart filled with
sympathy and apprehension for others, pushed on,
day after day, through blinding storms and howling-
winds, until reaching the Sweetwater, succor was
afforded the needy, devotion to whom saved the
lives of many who otherwise would have perished
through exposure and want. That mission of mercy
so nobly accomplished, will stand a bright page,
wrought by him and his companions, in the history
of our territory and people.

Subsequently, when the army of General Johnston
was at Camp Floyd, he prepared, on the subject of
the removal of the troops from Utah, one of the
most able and powerfully written memorials ever
sent from this territory to the Congress of the
United States. The clear reasoning of the memo-
rial stamped true merit upon every sentence, and as
a whole it received the unanimous approval of both
houses of the Legislature.

In 1864 he became one of the councilors for Salt
Lake, Tooele and Summit counties, and served as
such during all the sessions from the 14th to the
19th inclusive; and in the 20th as a member from
San Pete and Sevier counties.

As a legislator he displayed marked ability, show-
ing a mind capable of great perceptive powers,
bright, forcible, and decisive. He was pre-eminently
a Utah man, for he could claim no allegiance to that
State, the citizens of which had deprived him, in his
youth, of all constitutional, human or divine rights.

The name of Joseph A. Young is brightly and
imperishably interwoven in the history of this ter-

SUPPLEMENT. 91

-ritory, and his memory lives in the hearts of her
people. He was a man of keen and even brilliant
intellect, and as an organizer was remarkable, being
original, bold and pronounced. His perceptive
faculties often enabled him, in matters of great im-
portance, to comprehend the end from the beginning,
and made him the leader rather than the follower,
for his action was prompted by conviction, and his.
convictions were the creations of a well-ordered
mind, strengthened by a fearless and manly spirit.
His physical organization was strikingly beautiful,
graceful and perfect. In private as in public inter-
course, he w Q .s courteous, gentle and obliging. His
sympathy, consideration and kindness to the poor,
under all circumstances, have 'formed a crown of
beauty and a bright link in the memory of him who
has " crossed the river and is resting under the
shadow of the trees."

BRIGHAM YOUNG, Jr.

This apostle is the second son of the President
and his wife Mary Ann Angell. He was born in
Kirtland, December 18th, 1836, being a twin with
his sister Mary Ann, who died when, a little girl
And Brigham, Jr., when a lad barely escaped death
from a series of accidents.

I.n the exodus he had prepared to accompany the
pioneers, but his father deemed it unwise, for he was
only eleven years of age. The high-spirited boy
was much disappointed ; but the President's judg-
ment has always been final in the eyes of his sons.
On the second journey. to the mountains, however,

92 SUPPLEMENT.

he filled the place of a man, driving a team to
Bridger, and walking every step of the way, a dis-
tance of nine hundred miles. At this point his
strength gave out, and his father took the whip and
let him ride.

As an illustration of the early days of the settling
of Salt Lake Valley, it may be instanced that Joseph
A. and his brother Brigham supplied their mother
with fire-wood which they drew on their handsleds.
Many a time they went onto Ensign Peak and cut
down cedar trees which they rolled down, cut up,
and brought home.

When the army of the territory was organized
young Brigham held the commission of major in the
legion. During part of the winter, in the " Utah
War," he stood guard with his men in Echo Canyon.
As an officer he passed through all of the regular
grades from fourth corporal to Brigadier-General.
His father was in the habit of saying at that period,
"Joseph A. is my lawyer, John W. is my commissary,
Brigham is my soldier."

He was with his father in the " move South."
Early in the Spring, however, he left Provo and
returned to his command, which was posted near
Bridger, watching the troops. When Johnston and
his army took up their march towards the city he
rode as courier with the news to his father. As he
passed through Salt Lake City it was wrapt as with
the silence of the grave, and grass was growing in
the streets.

In 1862 he was one of the picked company of
volunteers, and responded to President Lincoln's
telegram to President Young to protect the mail

SUPPLEMENT.

93

route from Indian depredations. He was second in
command under General Burton, but being disabled
on Yellow Creek, Heber P. Kimball took his place.
At Deer Creek he telegraphed his father for permis-
sion to accompany W. H. Hooper to Washington,
and was six weeks at the capital, with Senators elect
Hooper and Cannon, who were there seeking the
admission of the State of Deseret.

From Washington he went to England with
George Q. Cannon, and then for six months was a
"traveling elder" in the London conference, under
William C. Staines. This gave him a practical in-
sight into the organization and workings of the
mission over which he was to be soon called to pre-
side, and this insight was perfected in the spring of
1863 by his accompanying President Chauncey West
in his visits through the conference of Great Britain.
He next made a tour on the continent with President
West, going to Paris, Marseilles, Genoa, Naples,
Rome, Milan, Turin, Geneva, Brussels, Hamburgh
and Copenhagen. Returning to England he sailed
for America on the 3d of August, arid arrived in
Salt Lake City on the 27th, making unprecedented
time. 'When he left home it was for only thirty
days, but he was absent one year and a half.

In 1864 he accompanied D. H.Wells to England,
and on the return of the latter he was left by him
in charge of the European mission. During this
presidency he visited St. Petersburg and Moscow.
On invitation of his father he returned to Salt Lake
City in the fall of 1866, leaving Orson Pratt in
charge of the mission in his absence. While cross-
ing the plains he was three times driven back by

94 SUPPLEMENT.

the Indians. He spent the winter at home, and was
appointed by the Legislature to act as commissioner
to present the specimens of Utah to the Paris Ex-
position of 1867.

His labors abroad being closed for the time, he
returned home, being thoroughly fitted by his min-
isterial labors for the elevation to the apostleship
which awaited him. Heber C. Kimball dying, Geo.
A. Smith was appointed first councilor to President
Young, and Brigham, Jr., was chosen by the quorum
of the twelve to fill the place made vacant by the
promotion of Apostle Smith. Since that period he
has been at home one of the most active of the
apostles, traveling through the territory, strength-
ening the faith and unity of the people, and presid-
ing in the stakes of Zion. Of him it may be said,
his career shows no blemish, and devotion to the
church is the supreme motive of his life.

WILLARD RICHARDS.

On the first of December, 1836, Doctor Willard
Richards was baptized at Kirtland, under the hands
of President Brigham Young, in presence of Heber
C. Kimball and others, who had spent the afternoon
in cutting the ice to prepare for the baptism. He
was born at Hopkintown, Middlesex county, Mass.,
June 24, 1804. At the age of ten years he removed
with his father's family to Richmond, in the same
State, where he witnessed several sectarian revivals,
and offered himself to the Congregational church

SUPPLEMENT. 95

in that place, at the age of seventeen, having pre-
viously passed through the painful ordeal of con-
viction and conversion, according to that order.

In the summer of 1835, while in the practice of
medicine, near Boston, the Book of Mormon, which
had been left with a relative at Southborough, acci-
dentally fell in his way, which was the first he had
seen or heard of the Latter-day Saints, except
the scurrilous reports of the public prints, which
amounted to nothing more than that "a boy, named
Jo Smith, somewhere out West, had found a gold
Bible." He opened the book, without regard to
place, and totally ignorant of its design or contents,
and before reading half a page, declared that " God
or the devil has had a hand in that book, for man
never wrote it ;" read it twice through in about ten
days, and so firm was his conviction of the truth
that he immediately commenced settling his ac-
counts, selling his medicine, and freeing himself from
every incumbrance, that he might go to Kirtland,
seven hundred miles west, the nearest point he could
hear of a saint, and give the work a thorough inves-
tigation ; firmly believing that if the doctrine was
true God had some greater work for him to do than
peddling pills. In October, 1836, he arrived at
Kirtland, where hegave the work an untiring and
unceasing investigation, until the day of his baptism.

He was an intimate friend and close companion
of Joseph. He was in the same prison, side by side
with the two martyred prophets, when they fell
under a shower of bullets ; and a bare drop of his
own blood mingled with theirs on that memorable
occasion. The blood of his brethren, that flowed

96 SUPPLEMENT.

copiously around him, and the mangled body of his
fellow survivor, Elder John Taylor, and the hideous
spectacle of painted and armed murderers, found in
Dr. Willard Richards, on that occasion, an embodi-
ment of presence of mind, of quickness of concep-
tion, and boldness of execution, that will never be
forgotten. During that catastrophe and the emer-
gency into which the church was suddenly thrown,,
Dr. Richards felt the burthen of giving direction to-
the affairs of the church in Hancock county, in con-
sequence of the absence of the twelve apostles.
Though standing in the midst of the murderous
mob at Carthage, with the mangled bodies of his.
martyred friends, and that of Elder Taylor, under
his charge, his letters and counsels at that time
indicated great self-command and judgment. His
ability was happily commensurate with such # an
occasion.

In the Spring of 1 848, he was unanimously elected,
by the voice of the whole church, as second coun-
cilor to the first President ; eleven years previously
he was chosen by revelation through the prophet
Joseph, to be one of the twelve apostles, and or-
dained accordingly, at Preston, England, while on a
mission to that country.

In the Spring of 1847, he was enrolled in the
memorable band of pioneers, under President
Young, that first marked out a highway for the
emigrating saints to the Great Salt Lake. He
submitted to the hardships and privations of that
rugged enterprise, in common with his associates.

As a civil officer, he served as secretary to the
government of the State of Deseret, and did the

SUPPLEMENT. 97

greatest share of the business of the secretary of
the territory of Utah after its organization, and
presided over the council of the Legislative Assem-
bly for about the same period.

He was also postmaster for Salt Lake City up to
the day of his death (which occurred on the nth of
March, 1854), an efficient member of the emigrating
fund company, general historian of the church, and
founder of the Deseret News. Much of the action
of his life's history, with letters and official docu-
ments from his pen, is contained in the body of our
book.

JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.

On the death of Willard Richards, the great ques-
tion of the church, both at home and abroad, was,
"Who will be chosen to succeed him in the first
Presidency ?" It was the almost universal judgment
that it would be one of the twelve apostles. But
Brigham Young boldly chose " whomsoever he
pleased ;" thus establishing the precedent that the
president of the church has. the right to select his
own councilors, and indicating that the humblest
elder in the church, fitted for the place, might be
lifted to the rank of one of the first presidency.

In this case Jedediah M. Grant was the man
chosen, and it was at once realized that President
Young had chosen a man of uncommon character-
mark. He was already distinguished, was one of
the presidents of the seventies, and the first Mayor
of Salt Lake City ; but he only survived his eleva-

98 SUPPLEMENT.

tion three years, dying at the age of forty, on the
1st of December, 1856. Orson Pratt, in the Millen-
nial Star, thus said of him :

"In early youth he connected himself with the
" saints, and has been with them in all their tribula-
tions. His faithfulness in adversity and prosperity
" — his untiring perseverance and energy of charac-
" ter — his unbounded love for the cause of truth — his
" warm attachment to the saints, combined with a
"free, sociable disposition, have endeared him to the
" hearts of many tens of thousands.

" For many years he occupied the high and im-
" portant position of one of the seven presidents over
" all the seventies, and was highly respected and
" beloved in that responsible station. In the capacity
" of a military officer, as Major-General of the
" militia of Utah territory, he served with dignity and
" honor, and enjoyed the universal approbation and
" love of all. In the capacity of Mayor of Great Salt
" Lake City, he was wise, prompt, energetic and inde-
fatigable, in devising and executing plans for the
11 peace and well-being of the citizens. In the Legis-
" lative Assembly, during many sessions, he was
" unanimously elected Speaker of the House. In this
" honorable position, he exhibited, in a remarkable
" manner, those traits of character which so eminently
" qualified him to preside over that dignified body.
" As a statesman he was surpassed by none. But in
" the high and holy calling of one of the three presi-
" dents over the Church of God throughout the world,
"his wisdom and talents shone most conspicuously.
" The intelligence and power of the Holy Ghost were
"upon him mightily. His voice was like a thunder-

SUPPLEMENT. 99

"bolt, and his words like the. vivid lightning to the
" hypocrite and transgressor. The words of burning
" truth flowed from his lips, piercing, penetrating,
".searching the inmost recesses of the heart."

EZRA TAFT BENSON.

This apostle was born on the 2 2d of February,
1 8 1 1 , in Mendon, Worcester county; Mass. He was
a farmer before the commencement of his apostolic
career, settling at Quincy, 111., in 1830. There he
became acquainted with Mormonism about the
period of the founding of Nauvoo. Joining the
church, he soon became a member of the High
Council. He was with the saints in the exodus,
and he and Charles C. Rich were councilors of
Father Huntington in the Presidency of Mount
Pisgah. While in this place he received a letter
from President Young, informing him of his appoint-
ment to the quorum of the Twelve in the stead of
John E. Page. He thereupon moved up to the
main camp at Council Bluffs where he was ordained
to the apostleship. He was one of the immortal
band of pioneers in 1847, and on the return to
Winter Quarters was appointed to preside in Potta-
watomie county; but in 1840 he removed to the
Valley with George A. Smith. In 1856 he was ap-
pointed on a mission to England with Orson Pratt,
and after his return was appointed in i860 to preside
over Cache Valley. He was a member of the Legis-
lature of the Provisional State of Deseret previous

IOO

SUPPLEMENT.

to the organization of the territory, and was a
member of the Territorial Legislature to the day
of his death. He was from home on railroad busi-
ness at Ogden when he suddenly dropped dead, on
the third day of September, i860.

As one of the pioneers of Utah he deserves ever-
lasting remembrance.

JOSEPH W. YOUNG.

This lamented gentleman, who was so long the
executive brain of the emigrations of his people
from the eastern frontiers to the Rocky Mountains,
was the nephew of President Young, and second
son of Bishop Lorenzo Dow Young and Percis
Goodall. He was born June 12th, 1829, in the town
of Mendon, Monroe county, New York. His page
of history in the exodus is thus briefly told in his
journal :

" I left Nauvoo in the first companies out, and
" assisted as much as possible until they made a
"stop at Mount Pisgah. I then returned, traveling
"on foot, to Nauvoo, and came out to the Missouri
" River with a company of saints from Pennsylvania,
" under the charge of Brother Ritter. On my way
" I found my brother William, and wife, laying sick
" in a wagon by the roadside. I think I must have
"been led by some unseen hand to their wagon, as
" it was some distance from the road. I found them
"destitute, and so sick that they could not even -get
" a drink of water. I staid with them until they

SUPPLEMENT. IOI

" were able to travel, then got a yoke of cattle and
"took them to winter quarters (Florence), and built
" them a place to live in through the winter, by dig-
ging into a bank and covering the excavation with
"logs, brush, long grass and dirt. After I had
" moved my brother into this ' dugout/ I went to
"the settlements to work for provisions for myself
" and others who were destitute. Thus I spent the
"winter, trying to do what good I could. One cir-
" cumstance I shall never forget- After my brother
"William had got into his- dugout, he and family
" were still sick, as were the whole camp at that
41 time. My brother's wife gave birth to his first
"child, which died, and I dug a grave, put the child
" into a fiddle box, and carried it alone to the grave
" and buried it. No one accompanied me; all were
"sick. No one can tell what the saints passed
" through in this place during that fall and winter,
" and Florence will long be remembered as the
" burying-place of the saints.

" In the summer of 1847 I crossed the Plains with
"Brother Jedediah M. Grant, and spent the first
" winter in Salt Lake, with the few saints who had
"followed the pioneers. In the spring of 1848 I
" took a team and went to meet the President and
"company, to assist them into the valley. I met
" them about one hundred and fifty miles below
" Fort Laramie, and returning with them, spent the
"winter and following summer in helping to build
"houses and open farms, and at the October con-
" ference of that year was sent on mission to Eng-
" land."

In Great Britain he labored nearly three years,

102 SUPPLEMENT.

and while there married Miss Mary Ann Pugh, of
Liverpool, who died on the way home, at Green
River, leaving him no children. " Thus," he says,
"were the hopes of my youth cut down in an un-
" looked for hour, adding another deep stroke to a
"life of disappointment and severe trial." How-
ever, he very successfully brought to the valley a
large company of British saints, who honored him
with a testimonial, expressive of their gratitude and
affection.

At the April conference of 1857 he was appointed
one of the famous hand-cart company of missiona-
ries, of which he was chosen captain. M On the 23d
" of April," he says, " after blessing my family, I took
" the hand-cart made by my own hands, and repaired
"to the temple block, where the company were to
" assemble previous to starting out. Several thou-
" sand people were there to witness our departure.
" About 10 a. m. we took up the line of march. The
" company consisted of seventy men and twenty-six
" carts. We had no horses, mules, or other animals,
" but drew our carts loaded with provisions and
" blankets. We presented a sight which the world
"had never before seen. Not less than two thou-
" sand people, led by the Nauvoo brass band,
" escorted us to the bench two miles east of the
" city. After traveling seven miles, we camped for
" the night. Our carts were made as light as possi-
" ble and bear their loads. Many of them were
" tastefully painted, bearing such mottoes as 'Zion's
" Herald,' ' Zion's Express,' ' Star of Deseret,' ' Merry
" Mormons,' ' Mountain Lion,' etc."

The hand-cart missionaries made a very success-

SUPPLEMENT. IOJ;

ful journey across the Plains, proving the practica-
bility of hand-cart emigration at proper seasons of
the year.

At the frontiers "Joseph W." found his brother,
Bishop William G. Young, who with their cousin,.
James A. Little, was in charge of that years emi-
gration. Arriving in Liverpool on the fourth of
August, the missionaries were appointed by Orson
Pratt to their fields of labor, "Joseph W." and John
Y. Greene being appointed to labor in Scandinavia.

In consequence of the Utah war, all of the
American elders in Europe returned to their native
land early in 1858. An express company first started
from the frontiers under Samuel W. Richards,' but
Joseph W. remained to fit out the rest of the breth-
ren. This done, on the first of June, in company
with Horace S. Eldridge, H. C. Haight, and thirty-
two others of the elders, he started from Florence,,
and all reached home in safety, July 10th. For this
President Young thus commended him: "Joseph
" W. has proven himself the good general of the
"mission ; for he would not desert his brethren, but
" remained till the very last." Undoubtedly this
service deservedly earned for him the superinten-
dence of the emigrations in succeeding years. In
the fall of that year he started for St. Louis with
H. S. Eldridge, on church business, and returned in
1859, m charge of one of the emigration trains.

When President Young determined, in 1859, to
avoid future disasters by controlling at home, instead
of through the Liverpool office, some suggested the
sending of horse and mule teams to the Missouri
River; but Joseph W. and his brother William G.

104 SUPPLEMENT.

suggested the better policy of sending mountain
acclimated ox-teams, which was adopted with the
most successful results. From that time till the
advent of the railroad there were yearly sent from
the valley from five hundred to a thousand teams
Xo gather the saints from the frontiers.

In 1 86 1 Joseph W. was also in charge. That
.season it was truly the " emigration of the poor "
from Europe. Nearly all of the British presidency
and " traveling elders " came home. From ten to
twenty years these had been in the ministry, yet
many of them arrived on the frontiers almost shoe-
less, scarcely a man of them with a dollar in his
pocket. These, with several thousands of the poor,
Joseph W. had to feed for weeks at Florence, outfit
for the Plains, and send to Utah. To meet this
immense demand he proposed the plan for all to
throw their money into a common fund. Men who
had presided over large conferences and pastorates
in Great Britain had but little more than the widow's
mite to contribute, and the entire means of the
whole of the emigrants was not enough to keep
them while the trains were being fitted out But
the emigration agent, with the church means and
credit, grappled with the difficulties of the situation,
and the whole people were better fed on the Plains
than a majority of them had been in their homes in
Great Britain. The British elders hold the name
of Joseph W. Young in grateful remembrance ; but
for him they would have been as paupers on the
frontiers, after all their missionary labors.

In those emigrations, which he conducted so suc-
cessfully for a number of years, Joseph W. showed

SUPPLEMENT. I05 ?

that he possessed many of the elements of ability
and character as a leader, seen in his uncle in the
matchless exodus of his people. Those emigrations,,
in fact, have immortalized his name.

His great work of gathering done, he was sent
south to preside ; but it may be incidentally noticed
that he was a member of the Utah Legislature, and,,
in connection with Albert Carrington, arranged the
preliminaries of . the famous .discussion between
Newman and Pratt. He died at Harrisburg, Wash-
ington county, Utah, June 6th, 1873,. lamented, by
the whole community. He was truly one of the
"founders of Utah."

BRIGHAM YOUNG'S BROTHERS.

In the foregoing history of the life of President
Young, we have substantially embodied the life-
work of his brothers, "John, Joseph, Phineas! and
Lorenzo. Often have they been with him, shoulder
to shoulder.

John Young, the eldest of the brothers, was born
in Hopkinton,. Mass.,- May 22d, 1791. In the. fif-
teenth year of .his age he joined the Methodist
Church, and in the year 1825 he received his license
as a Methodist preacher. , He zealously labored
with that body until he was baptized by his brother
Joseph, October 6th, 1833. In Utah, till the period
of his death, he occupied the responsible position
of President of the High Priest's Quorum, and.was-
also a Patriarch of the Church.

I06 SUPPLEMENT.

Joseph Young was born in the same town, April
7th, 1797. He became a Methodist preacher also.
It will be remembered that he was in Canada on
mission for that body when Brigham, having become
convinced of Mormonism, hastened to him, which
led to his embracing the gospel. Joseph ordained
Heber C. Kimball an elder, and baptized Heber's
wife, Vilate. Considerable of his history has already
been given. in the Presidents life. His great repre-
sentative character has been, for over forty years, as
President, of all the Quorums of the Seventies. At
the organization of the first of those quorums,
February 28th, 1835, he was chosen its President
by the prophet. To-day the " Seventies of the
Al Apostles " number about five thousand experienced
men. They have been always the very flower of
the Church — in fact the grand missionary body of
Elders who have carried Mormonism throughout
the world. Joseph, therefore, has presided over the
great body of the priesthood. Practically his rank
and influence has been only second to that of his
brother Brigham. He has been exceedingly proud
of his Seventies, as well he might be, but himself is -
unostentatious — a decided father, rather than a dic-
tator. "Uncle Joseph "has ever been one of the
most popular men of the Church. Beloved by all,
especially by the masses — a father to the fatherless,
a helper to the needy, gentle and forgiving to the
wayward and erring, a timely advocate for his breth-
ren; and a just judge in his great office. Few men
in life have so well deserved the name of Christian.
He is pre-eminently, not only one of the founders
of Utah, but also one of the founders of the Church.

SUPPLEMENT.

107

Phineas Howe Young was born in the same town
as his brothers John and Joseph. He it was who
brought the Book of Mormon to his whole family.
The circumstance is too important to be lost to his-
tory. He says :

11 In April, 1830, as I was on my way home from
the town of Lima, where I had been to preach, I
stopped at the house of a man by the name of
Tomlinson. While engaged in conversation with
the family, a young man came in and walking
across the room to where I was sitting, held a book
towards me, saying, 'There is a book, sir, I wish
you to read.' The thing appeared so novel to me
that for a moment I hesitated, saying, ' Pray, sir,
what book have you ?' ' The Book of Mormon, or,
as it is called by some, the Golden Bible.' ' Ah sir,
then it purports to be a revelation.' ' Yes/ said he,
' it is a revelation from God.'
" This language seemed to me very strange, and, I
thought, rather ridiculous ; however, I thought it
my duty to read it, and search out the errors, and,
as a teacher in Israel, expose such errors and save
the people from the delusion. I commenced and
read every word in the book the same week. The
week following I did the same, but to my surprise
I could not find the errors I anticipated, but felt a
conviction that the book was true.
" On the next Sabbath I was requested to give
my views on the subject, which I commenced to
do. I had not spoken ten minutes in defence of
the book when the spirij: of God came upon me
in a marvelous manner, and I spoke at great
length on the importance of such a work, quoting

108 SUPPLEMENT.

" from the Bibie to support my position, and finally
" closed by telling the people that I believed the
" book. My father then took the book home with
"him, and read it through. He said it was the
"greatest work and the clearest of error of any-
" thing he had ever seen, the Bible not excepted. I
" then lent the book to my sister, Fanny Murray.
" She read it and declared it a revelation. Many
" others did the same."

Lorenzo Dow Young was born in Sherburn, Che-
nango county, N. Y. He was one of the famous
branch at Mendon, organized with the names of his
father, John Young, his brothers Brigham, Joseph,
Phineas, himself, his sister Fanny, his sister Rhoda
and her husband, John P. Greene, Heber C. Kimball
and wife, and other historical names. He was one
of the immortal band of pioneers, the father of the
first male child born in Utah, the father of Bishop
William G.Young and Joseph W. Young. To this
may be added that he has been the Bishop of ■ the
Eighteenth Ward of Salt Lake City for a quarter
of a century, and a constant instructor of the saints
in the tabernacle.

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